


Hocus Pocus: Magics Return

by The_Newbie



Category: Hocus Pocus (1993), The Crucible - Miller
Genre: Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, F/M, Thackery Binx Parents - Freeform, Twenty five years later, Unofficial Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:29:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 25,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26722933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Newbie/pseuds/The_Newbie
Summary: 25 years after the fateful night Max Dennison, the then virgin, lit the black flame candle, his children and their friend sneak into the Sanderson Sister's home, steal the book as part of a bet, and then run. But their friend lights the candle, and Jackie, Max and Allison's second child, opens the gates to the afterlife. Joined by Thackery Binx and his family, as well as the sisters and a few more familiar faces from the movie, the sisters have to be thwarted. So why not?Warning, this was written and the first couple of chapters were published right before the sequel book was published. I will not be reading the sequel book, so this is going to be what I consider the sequel. The official unofficial sequel.This is based entirely off my misinterpretation of the execution scene with Thakceray's family. LOL.
Relationships: Allison/Max Dennison, Dani Dennison/Max Dennison, Elizabeth Proctor/John Proctor, Francis Nurse/Rebecca Nurse, Giles Corey/Martha Corey, Thackery Binx/Dani Dennison, Thackery Binx/Elijah, Thackery Binx/Emily Binx, Thackery Binx/Father
Comments: 91
Kudos: 6





	1. The Legend of the Sanderson Sisters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie POV

The Legend of the Sanderson Sisters

"Poor Thackery Binx. Neither his father, his mother, nor anyone else... ever knew what became of him... those 300 years ago. And so the Sanderson Sisters... were hanged by the Salem town folk. Now, there are those who say that on Halloween night... a black cat still guards the old Sanderson house, warning off any who might make the witches... come back to life!" I glanced to the clock on the far wall of the class room. Just a few more minutes before Jacob Bailey High was out for Halloween. Old Ms. Chromer was talking her ears out again about the Sanderson Sisters, and everyone body gobbled it up. I twirled my mid length dirty blonde hair around my finger, waiting for some new transfer to ruin the story like every year since Bobby Butch had moved into town in first grade.

"Come little children, I'll take thee away. Into my land of enchantment," I whispered and glanced at the clock. 5 minutes left. "Don't be afraid, the time's come to play. Here in my garden of magic." I rolled my eyes, not knowing what I was doing. "That's not the whole story, Ms. Chromer." The teacher turned around. She had been teaching in the school since her dad had been there, and way longer for sure. Ms. Chromer walked with a limp and a cane, barely even able to balance any more.

"Is that so?"

"Yeah actually. Back in 1993, the witches did come back." Mutters filled the room at my "blasphemy."

"Is that so?" "Yeah. If you want proof, show me where the black flame candle is. I've checked, it's not in the house."

"So..." Zechariah Morgan peeped up, the tuff guy wanna be with blonde hair that fell into his eyes said. "You've been in the Sanderson house?"

"I've looked through the window moron. That place is a mess."

"Watch your language!" The teacher yelled. "Yes Ms. Chromer." The bell rang and I instantly pulled out my phone, turning on Save Rock and Roll, the album by Fall Out Boy. I stayed behind in class for a few minutes. "Hey, Zechariah." He stopped gathering his things and looked up at me. I knew he had blue eyes, he had blonde hair, there was really no other combination possible. "I was wondering if you would like to come with me and Daniel to the old Sanderson house tonight. Say, 10:20?" He shuddered, but I knew he'd take the bait.

"Yeah, I'll be there." I smirked and then picked up my stuff and walked out of the room. Several people started at me as I walked through the halls. I had a rare disorder known as Heterochromia, causing me to have two distinctly different eye colors. Mine just happened to be blue and green, and they were very noticeable. The people who didn't see me on a regular basis usually stared for a second, giving me a cue to explain what was wrong with my eyes. It didn't bother me to much anymore, but it still was weird getting stared all the time.

As I walked outside, I saw silly string fly into the air and land on one of the teachers heads. Everyone was excited for Halloween, the Salem tradition. Some young kids were already in their costumes. I saw a little witch as I walked over to the bike rack and undid the lock on my bike. As I put it away, I felt a tap on my right shoulder. I looked back to see my little brother Daniel standing there, a smirk on his face and a can of silly string in his right hand.

"You're picking up Billy-Jo tonight." Horror flooded my brain as I turned to argue with him, but he was already gone, his brown hair bouncing a little bit on his head. I hated that stupid blue sweatshirt he wore.

"I hate you Daniel!" I quickly got on my bike and headed along the sidewalk, toward the elementary school about a block away. All I had to do was ride by, get Billy-Jo, and get the hell outta there.

I wasn't in the best bike riding outfit. My skinny jeans were a little to tight and the orange shirt I was wearing under my black leather jacket was cinching up around my armpit. All I wanted to do was get home and change and go trick or' treating or something. Once I got to the school, I rode by, watching behind me for Billy-Jo. I saw her follow suit, long brown hair flying behind her. She wore a little witch costume, the same one Aunt Dani had worn 25 years ago for the Halloween that changed her life. And my parents.

"Hurry up Billy!" I yelled to her.

"I'm trying, this dress is really long!!" I groaned and slowed up waiting for her to catch up. When she did, I rode behind her the rest of the way home, watching her like mom and dad always did, like a hawk. I glanced around a lot, watching the surroundings like mom and dad had said. They always told me stories of how Aunt Dani was almost killed by some sister witches, the Sanderson Sisters, but I didn't think they were true. My parents literally told these stories every, single, day.

We pulled up to the house ten minutes later. My dad had lived in the house since he first moved into Salem when he was a teenager some 25 years ago. My grandma and grandpa had given my dad the house when they moved to Florida, along with my Aunt Dani, who was about 18 at the time. She always came up to Salem around Halloween to do something with my parents. The streets were already full of children as I watched Billy-Jo cross the street into the driveway of the house. As I crossed the street, I saw a car, a maroon Mustang, pull up fast, barreling toward me and not stopping. I peddled harder, hoping to miss it. The car sped by and I caught a glimpse of the drivers as they passed me. Jacob and Ignatius, the two big bully quarterbacks from school were driving the maroon 93 Mustang. That was right as they hit my back wheel and sent me tumbling over the handle bars, scrapping up my face and right side on the ground. I heard the rev of an engine fade as I laid there, letting the pain come over me in a shallow, burning sensation.

"Jackie!!" I heard my mom's voice and the screech of car tires as hands grabbed my shoulder and helped me up. It was my mom, and not far behind, my dad.

"Jackie!" He yelled, his feet stomping down as he helped me up. "Are you okay honey?" I nodded, even though the hand on my face came back a little bloody. I looked through them to see that I had flown from the other side of the road all the way across and nearly into the driveway.

"I'm good. But Jake and Iggy are so dead." My mom chuckled as they helped me into the house. Inside, Aunt Dani was frantically grabbing the first aid kit from the cabinets above the sink and running over to me.

"Are you okay Jack?" I chuckled a little bit and nodded.

"Yeah, but the kids who drove that car aren't."

Daniel came down the stairs at that exact moment, hearing half the conversation and chuckling. "You were always so... violent." He walked over to the drawer near the door and pulled out a pencil and some duck tape. Mom and Aunt Dani were putting some rubbing alcohol on my cuts and I was biting my lip trying not to scream. They couldn't really to to much for the cuts on my face, so they slapped a few band aids on my face and then again on my hip, stomach, and upper part of my leg.

"So, guess what?" Mom said, putting the first aid kit back. She was wearing some white sweater and jeans which were still pristine, despite my accident.

"What?" I asked, eyeing Daniel at the table.

"You get to take Billy trick or treating tonight." I stopped dead. Daniel dropped his pencil and looked up from his Calculus work to stare.

"WHAT?!" He yelled. I gave my mom my most menacing, I need to go somewhere tonight look.

"Mom, the band is playing at some Halloween party tonight! I have to be there cause Zach's out sick!" I followed her up the stairs and toward her room.

"Young lady, you will take your little sister trick or treating! Besides, it's only until 9. You can meet your band after that okay?"

I groaned. "Not really. We'll still have to watch her here." Just then, the doors downstairs opened, and I heard grandma Jenny's voice coming up the stairs. I gave my mom a look and ran downstairs.

"Grandma Jenny, Grandpa Chris!!" Billy already had her arms wrapped around them in a huge squeeze hug. Grandma say me through Billy.

"Hey Jack!" She said, breaking the hug and hugging me. "Heard you're taking Billy out trick or treatin'." I nodded.

"I better get my costume ready." Internally, I was already planning a way to get Billy home quick, get changed, and then go to the Sanderson House, then to the city Halloween party by 11. It would be tight, but I could make it. "Hey, Daniel!" I yelled up the stairs. When he didn't respond, I ran up to his room. He was in there, banging on Dad's drum set, shirt hung over his bed, trying to imitate Andy Hurley or something. His room was atrocious, clothes everywhere, an overflowing trash can, and some crappy smell I didn't want to have anything to do with.

"Danny!" I screamed. He finally stopped and looked up at me.

"What!?"

"Tell Zechariah that we need to met at the Sanderson house by 9:30." He jumped up.

"Are you nuts! That's literally no turn around!!"

"I know, but I still would have to put on makeup, and taking Billy trick or treating throws a huge wrench in my plans!" He took a deep breath and then nodded.

"Okay, I'll text him. You got the key?" I smirked and pulled a small golden key out of my pocket.

"Yup."

"Alright," He leaned back a little bit. "We have to make sure that she's tucked in by 9:15. We'll be cutting it close." I shook my head.

"Grandma and Grandpa know that she sleeps in the steeple, let them put her to sleep."

He nodded. "9:30?" He pulled out his phone as he asked. I nodded with a small smirk.

"Yep."

He pecked at the keys then looked up as he shoved the phone into his back pocket. "Done." I smiled and then left his room, entering mine to get ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, obviously this isn't great. The writing is pretty crappy, and if you've read the sequel you know the teachers name is wrong. I'm doing a major overhaul, but since it's almost October I want to get a following built up now so that I don't have to wait a year for people to look into this again. I will be doing a major overhaul, but this version of the story isn't completely finished, I have a few more chapters at least. Once I finish it a publish it here, I'll edit it a chapter at a time, chronologically. I will be asking from time to time about certain decisions, for example: I have a dark ending I could go with! Do you want me to post that as a seperate work or do you want me to add it with the 2nd draft of this, or add it at the end as an alternate ending?  
> Also, this is my first work on this platform, so I'm still figuring it out. I've been a reader for several months now, so just be patient. Also, school and work can get on my case, so I don't update regularly. Right now, since I have chapters I can just copy and paste in here, I will probably update once a week, but unless I start editing before I get to the end of the book here, that will have to stop.  
> Sorry for the info dump, please comment, tell me what you think, and tell me if there's anything you'd like to see! I love to include people either as character cameo's or use your ideas! I've done it before on other sites. Any feedback is appreciated, but if you're gonna be mean at least like, don't cuss me out. Thanks  
> Also, I have pictures for these people, but I'm still figuring that all out so bear with me!


	2. "I'm not a Virgin dude"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel POV

I watched Jackie enter her room as I entered mine, watching until I closed my door. My the floor of my room was covered in clothes, papers, and stuff I didn't even really know or want to know, what it was. I had a small place under my nightstand where I had stuffed my costume. A red Power Ranger suit I had gotten in a going out of business sale when I was 12. I had just barely grown up enough for it to fit me, and I could finally get out of being in a matching costume to Billy-Jo. I was pretty sure that mom had gotten her to be some princess, maybe Elsa. I didn't know and didn't care at all. 

I changed pretty quick, leaving an undershirt on as well as some shorts I found lying in a pile under my bed. The sun wasn't super low yet, it was barely 5 o'clock. But here in Salem, you had to go out real early to get the good candy. Mom had once mentioned that maybe I was too old to be trick or treating, but I had said that if she could go trick or treating (which she routinely did until I was about 5) then I could too. She had brought up the same thing with Jackie, but Jackie had just shrugged and said she'd go with Billy. This was probably the last time we were gonna get away with going with Billy since the next day was her birthday. 

The day Billy was born had a fun story. Mom and dad had sent us trick or treating with Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Mark, or Mimi and Pappa as they like to be called. We got back just as mom's water broke while they were walking toward the cemetery. Billy was a late baby but mom wasn't expecting it. Pappa quickly rushed out to pick up mom and then left dad by the cemetery, all alone. He finished the little tradition then rushed to the hospital. Billy was born only a few seconds after midnight on November 1st, but my parents like to say her birthday is on Halloween. Today wasn't one of those cases.

I walked downstairs a few minutes later and got blinded by mom's camera. At least she wasn't like Grandma Jenny who was always flashing pictures left and right. I ran my fingers through my brown hair, the front a little bit side swept. Billy-Jo was wearing an Elsa costume and Jackie had yet to come downstairs. Mom was talking with grandma and Dad was talking with grandpa. It wouldn't be much longer until we would be leaving, with or without Jackie. 

"Jackie hurry up!" Mom yelled up the stairs. A few seconds later a door creaked open and a flash of black descended the stairs. Jackie quickly finished coming down, holding the top of her black dress cloak thing. 

"Remind me what you are again?" I asked sarcastically. She made a noise in the back of her throat and then looked right at me. 

"I'm supposed to be mysterious. That's the point. I'm technically a pagan witch or something, that's what the costume description said." There was something up, and I needed to know. 

"Say cheese!" Mom yelled. We all crowded around Billy-Jo and we smiled. 

About 3 hours later and all the way on the other side of town, all three of us lugged giant bags of candy. Pillow cases, at least two to myself and one to each of the girls. It was one of our biggest hauls ever, and we still had to go to the Mansions. 

"Alright. We can go to the Mansions and then straight home, it's nearly time to get you," Jackie tickled Billy's shoulders and she laughed. "For you to get to bed." We worked our way around Salem toward the Mansions, stopping here and there to grab some candy from a stray house. I followed close behind Billy, watching her little dress switch around on the ground. Jackie had pulled up her cloak hood. The cloak was all black, I'd looked up a picture of the same costume, but it had had gold trim around the long, huge sleeves

We finally arrived at the Mansions, but ended up with less time than we thought. We made quick work of our rounds, stopping in at Mimi and Pappa's house for a few minutes and drank some cider. Then, they sent us on our way with plenty of candy and way to heavy pillow cases.  
We finally arrived home right at nine, running into mom and dad as they left. Both wore some old hand me down old timey costumes that Mimi and Pappa gave them from a Halloween party a few years before. 

"Bye kids." Mom leaned down and kissed Jackie and me and the head, even though my head was extremely sweaty. I pulled my fingers through my hair and tried to wish the sweat away. Dad smiled and then leaned down to give Billy a hug. Mom also bent down and gave her a hug, whispering something into her ear. She looked into my dad's eyes as he grabbed her shoulders, then she nodded. Grandma grabbed Billy's waist and pulled her into a hug. My parents smiled and headed out the door, Aunt Dani streaking through the house to catch up with them. She was wearing another old timey dress up outfit, matching one I'd seen in pictures of Mimi from the Halloween party where my parents got engaged. It was white with fancy lace in the back. 

"Bye kiddo's, I love you!" Aunt Dani yelled, slamming the door behind her. As soon as the door closed, Jackie ran upstairs and I hauled all of the pillow cases to their corresponding rooms. Jackie was running around her room when I went in, throwing things into her duffle bag. 

"What are you doing?" She jumped at my question, turning around suddenly and throwing her hands up. 

"What the!!!" She screamed, dropping the bag. I grabbed it from the floor and began riffling through it. There was makeup, sheet music, and a warm up scale for a pianist. 

"What are you doing?" She grabbed the bag back from me, checking it again. 

"Nothing." She gritted through her teeth. "We need to leave for the Sanderson house now." She tried to get past me, but I blocked her. 

"What are you doing with the band tonight?" She groaned, loud, real loud. She then turned in a circle and turned to face me. 

"Fine. We're playing at the Halloween party tonight. It's a new song, and we really need it. Zach's out sick so I gotta go." 

"Then just skip the house." I leaned against her door frame as she grabbed something off her bed. 

"No way. I bet Paige Davis 10 bucks that I could get the spell book out of there tonight. I have to deliver." I let out a long breath, then nodded. 

"Alright, Zechariah's meeting us there, let's go." Jackie ran downstairs and I ran into my rooms, threw on some jeans and my blue sweatshirt, then ran downstairs. Jackie was waiting by the door, twirling the car keys around her finger. 

"Let's go." She pulled the door open and ran out to the black 05' Chevy Uplander that dad had bought and then passed down to her. She hopped in, threw the black duffle bag in the backseat, and then started the car. The cold new England air was nipping at my nose, and cool little wisps could be seen with the headlights. The leaves outside were just barely illuminated into a fiery blaze. The car pulled forward and we rocketed down the road. 

We barely arrived at 9:30 with Zechariah already beating us there. He as waiting in a Chevy Equinox that his mom let him drive from time to time, and wore a gray flannel with green lines, jeans, and a gray and green hoodie with a deer logo on it. We quickly got out of the car and ran toward him. Jackie turned back and locked the car with one tap of the keys. 

"What took you so long?" he asked as we ran up to him.

"We took Billy trick or treating." I murmured. Zechariah nodded as Jackie pulled out a key. 

"What's that?" He asked. She stopped, popped her right hip, and gave him a death glare. 

"The key to the house? What, did you really think I'd break in?" She finished inserting the key and then popped the door open. 

It was dark inside, and spiderwebs hung down from the ceiling. Zechariah pulled out a flash light from his pocket and lit up the room. 

"Look for Winifred Sandersons book." Jackie hissed. She pulled out her own flash light and began searching around near the center of the room. The place was a mess. There was a huge metal cauldron laying on its side in the middle of the floor. A shelf was tipped back on the ground near the right wall and there was ash all over the floor from the fire place. Jackie let herself go behind the souvenir counter. Suddenly, she bent down. 

"I think I found it!" She pulled up something big and bulky. She quickly brought it over and Zechariah shone his flash light on it. It was a book bound in some sort of tanish brown leather like cover. There were several large metal clasps on the book and one with a little circular hole in the middle. 

"You sure about this?" Zechariah asked. I looked over to see that his face had lost some of it's color. Jackie gave him a mysterious grin. 

"Hell yeah. Let's go!" She started running toward the exit, her hand digging in her pocket for something. Zechariah shock his head a lifted his flashlight up for one more close inspection. In it's light, I could see a wooden stand with a candle in it. 

"What's that?" I asked, pointing it out. Zechariah looked at it and gaped. 

"The... the bla.. black flame candle." His voice was barely audible. I smirked and ran over to it. 

"I bet you 100 bucks you can't light it." Zechariah gave me a look. 

"Why can't you light it?" I gave him an equally questioning look back. 

"I'm not a virgin dude." He suddenly let his mouth drop open and his head bobbed a little. I ran over to the counter and pulled one of the lighters from it's display. I handed it to him and he gave me a hesitant look. 

"You sure?" I smirked and gave a little scoff. 

"Totally. The witches never existed anyway." Zechariah gave a quick breath, then light the candle. 

At first it burned normally, then, the flame slowly began to turn black. Within a moment, it was totally black. Zechariah's face lost all color as Jackie raced back over to the door. 

"Let's go dingus', I have a performance at City hall in about an hour..." She saw the candle and marched right up to us. "What did you do?" Suddenly, the floor boards beneath us began to shake violently. Zechariah screamed and the flash light dropped, rolling around on the ground and throwing odd shadows. The floor boards moved up and down and side to side revealing devilish green light beneath them. Jackie screamed and then I did. 

Then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. We were left in the literally dark. Not a speck of light, Zechariah's flashlight long gone. Suddenly, one of the candles in the corner lite up, on it's own. Zechariah couldn't take it and bolted out the door, running straight for his car. Jackie gave me a scared look, then headed for the door. I didn't wait either. If anything mom and dad had told us was true, we would be dead if we didn't move. 

"Hurry!" Jackie shouted, jumping into the car and starting it. I jumped in just as it started moving, slamming the door as we hit the highway. Zechariah was following only a few feet behind us. Jackie kept glancing back to see if anyone was following us, but no one seemed to be, except for Zechariah.

"Where are we heading?" I asked. 

"The old graveyard," She said, making a sharp turn. "If you really did bring the witches back, I don't wanna be where they can touch me." 

"You actually paid attention to mom and dad?" 

"Yeah, didn't you?" 

"No." I muttered. "What the hell is going on?" She gave me a death glance but stayed focused on the road. 

"A virgin lit the candle. Now call Zechariah and tell him we're going to the Old Burial Hill Cemetery." I pulled out my phone and dialed his number, then held it up to my ear.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the writing will get better, I'm already working on it with the new chapters I'm writing for this draft. Thanks for the hits, I'm glad you guys like it. Leave a comment, please, I need the feedback!!


	3. Old Burial Hill

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zecheriah POV

Old Burial Hill

I ran to my car as soon as that first candle lite up. I didn't care if they called me chicken, I wasn't getting eaten alive by witches. I ran to my silver Chevy, violently threw open the door, and jumped in. The cold night air had permeated the car and I nearly got a leaf stuck in the door. I watched as Jackie and Daniel ran out, then jumped in the car to leave. I started my car and quickly turned around, then got on the road and followed them. 

I could barely see Jackie thrashing her head back to see if anyone was following her, but I was blocking her view. I looked back multiple times but saw nothing excepts some leaves we kicked up with our tires. 

"Oh, my, god." I breathed. "That wasn't worth it." I glanced back again, and at the same time, my phone rang. I jumped and nearly swerved off the road, barely missing the guard rail along the road. 

"What the hell?" I reached down into the console and grabbed my phone, trying to balance it in my right hand while I drove with my left. The caller I.D. revealed the caller as Daniel, with some picture from last years Yearbook I had photo shopped to fit the space. 

"Danny, what the hell was that for?" I screamed. I could feel my face heat up, getting warmer, and imagined it turning red. 

"Dude, I told you. I'm not a virgin..." 

"That's beside the point, ya idiot!" I screamed into the phone, taking a curve a little to fast. "We could've been killed, and you just brought back the witches or something!" 

"That's impossible!" He claimed. "My parents already did that. The witches were killed in 1993! The book was on the floor, meaning something had happened in there between my parents and us." I was shaking a little bit now, trying to stay calm. 

"I don't care! We could have died!" 

"Dude, calm down! We're going to..." 

"I'm calm man! Considering what you just put me through..."

"Will you listen to me??? We're going to go to..."

"Stop interrupting me Daniel!!!!" 

"You stop interrupting Zach!! We're going to the..." 

"Don't call me Zach!" I took the next curve way to fast, nearly flinging myself off the road. I had to calm down, but I couldn't. Daniel had my anger juices flowing.   
"Fine. Shut up and listen Zechariah!!!" I stopped for a moment, wondering what he had to say. "We're going to the Old Burial Hill Cemetery to try and figure out what happened. You can either come with us or go home. It's up to you." I could hear Jackie's voice in the background screaming at us to hurry up. 

"Okay, I'm gonna follow you. Be careful, I'm hanging up now." 

"Okay, be there." 

"I will." I dropped the phone into the console and let Daniel hang up for me. My head was a fuzzy blur of crap and I could barely think straight enough to drive. I had no idea what was going on, how to fix it, or if I could. Something had gone really far south and we needed something to bring it back on course.

I followed behind Jackie's car, both of us driving a little erratically. We arrived at the old cemetery within about 10 minutes, going over the speed limit of course.

We parked our cars on the street right outside the cemetery gates. Daniel was the first out of the car, jumping out while Jackie's car was still in motion. 

"Hurry!" I could barely hear him through the car's insulation. I shut off the car, grabbed the keys and my coat, and then ran out of the car. Jackie had thrown a black duffle bag of her shoulder and was running into the open gate. Daniel motioned for me to get inside and I ran in as I put my gray sweatshirt over my t-shirt. Daniel slammed the gates shut as I stopped a little bit inside the cemetery. 

"Hurry!" Jackie was standing at the bottom of a set of stairs leading down a hill. I glanced back at the gates of the cemetery. Above them resided the newly replaced stainless steel letters reading Old Burial Hill. I felt a hand on my shoulder and then bolted down the stairs, farther into the cemetery. 

I regretted dropping my flashlight as we got deeper into the cemetery. It was very dark and I kept tripping over plants, headstones, and rubble. 

"Over here!" Jackie yelled. I could vaguely see her motioning toward a large blob like thing at the very bottom of the hill. I ran down with Daniel and we met up with   
her where she was standing. 

"What is it?" I asked, breathing hard and fast. Jackie pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight, revealing a limestone pillar with words carved into it. 

To the Lost Soul of Thackery Binx.   
On this day he found rest.   
November 1st, 1993.   
From your friends in the 20th century.   
You will be missed.   
Proceeded in death by his Father, Mother, and sister Emily.   
From Max, Dani, and Allison. 

I read the inscription in my head as Jackie mumbled it under her breath. After she finished, we all looked at each other. 

"That's was fun." I muttered sarcastically. Jackie smirked and then pulled a tan book out of the duffle bag. 

"Look what I got," She said, her smirk apparent even in her voice. Daniel grabbed her phone and held the light over the book. 

"What is that?" I asked. 

"Winifred Sandersons spell book." I gaped and Daniel just shrugged. Jackie was still smirking. "Let's say we have a little fun before I have to leave?" She repositioned the book and started to open it. 

"Wait!" Daniel yelped. Jackie slammed the book shut and looked at him, annoyed. 

"What Danny?" 

"What if that leads the witches to us?" She made a weird noise in the back of her throat, kind of a cross between sigh and a gargle. I saw Daniel's point though, the book was dangerous. 

"I agree with Daniel. We don't know where the witches are at the moment."

"We didn't see the witches on our way here, and we didn't see them enter the house. They must not have come back." I gaped. 

"Slow your roll Jackie!" Daniel stepped up the hill a little bit and tried to grab the book. "We were literally running for our lives less than 5 minutes ago, and now you want to potentially draw the witches to us!?!?!" 

"Jackie. let's just burn the sucker or something and get out of here." She yanked the book out of Daniel's hands as I moved a step closer. 

"No way. Besides, it's protected by magic." 

"Jackie, please," Daniel begged. "What would mom and dad do if they found out." Jackie stopped, the book in her hands held over her head to her right side, away from Daniel. She held it there for a second, her face contorted in some sort of thinking expression. 

"Alright." She breathed out. "But we have to find a way to get the enchantment that protects the book off this thing." 

"Agreed." I murmured. "Now how do we do that?" Jackie gave me a are you serious look. 

"With the book." She sat down on the hill, Daniel to her right as I walked to her left side. 

"Let's hope those witches didn't come back." Jackie opened up the book to the first page with writing on it. Daniel pointed the phone light at the book. 

"Okay." Daniel murmured. "Let's make this quick." 

"Yeah." I added. Jackie made that noise again. 

"I'm the one with the band performance at 11 people. If anyone is saying we should hurry, it's me." She kept flipping pages. 

"Illnesses, curses, immortality spell..." She murmured, starting to flip pages in large quantities, two's, three's, and even fours. 

"Anything?" I asked. She shook her head.

"Not yet... Look at this." She stopped flipping, and pointed at a title. The writing was relatively a medium size, but the whole page was taken up by it. I gave Daniel a look which he met. 

"What is it?" 

"It's some sort of a Resurrection spell. I don't really know. The words don't really match what I would have thought a spell would look like." 

"Show me, I can't really see the spells." Daniel shifted the light over so I could see. The words were weird. 

"What do you think it'll do?" I asked. Jackie looked at me with a blank expression. 

"I don't know. But it may be worth trying out?" Both Daniel and I fell silent for a moment. 

"Should we even consider it?" Daniel asked. Jackie took back her phone a stood up, walking a little ways farther down the hill, toward some gates that led to another part of the cemetery. They were always closed and there wasn't a single grave beyond them, just empty space and a dirt road lined with trees. Jackie turned her head to look at us. 

"I mean, what choice do we have? It could be a disguised spell or something." Jackie turned back around and held up the flashlight. 

"Here goes nothing..." She began reciting the spell. 

"Hear me, you souls beyond the grave!  
Fling open the gates, come toward me.  
Hear my voice and know my words.   
By dawn though shalt return to thine own world.  
Until then, walk on this Earthly Plane.  
For though may never see it again."

Suddenly, there was a huge lightning strike that hit the gates. lighting them up, followed by an enormous clap of thunder. Jackie screamed and we all ducked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Hope you like this chapter! I'm also going to be moving a book here from Quotev called The Newbie! It's a Marvel AU fanfic sort of deal. I'll have it up in a few days, so please check it out if that's what your into! 
> 
> Please leave feedback, Kudos, I subscribe for Kudos! And please consider subscribing to my channel (cringes at how youtuber this feels)


	4. Lightnings Strike, Thunders Boom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Billy-Jo POV

"Alright you little witch," Grandma Jenny said, grabbing at my waist. I tried to run but she grabbed me and pulled me close in a long, warm snuggle hug. "Let's get you in bed!!" I ran up to the second floor, dragging my candy bag behind me. As I did, Grandma herded me into the bathroom. After a little bit of a fight she got me into a nice, long, warm bubble bath. She stayed just outside the bathroom watching me while I played with my little water dollies. After a while the water got cold and the bubbles went away, so Grandma got me out and tried me off with a fluffy towel. Then, she helped me get into my orange pumpkin night gown and then Grandpa Chris came upstairs. He picked me up and held me high. I kicked and screamed and laughed. 

Once he had me picked up, Grandpa flew me up into my bedroom like an airplane. I squealed and laughed the whole way up, through the bottom part of the room where Jackie slept and then up into the little loft part that my bed was in. 

"Alright kiddo," Grandpa said, carefully putting me down. "What book should we read to you tonight?" He reached in to tickled me and I screamed, then started laughing as he tickled me. 

"Stop, stop!" I screamed, then laughed some more. "I wanna read Stripes!!" Grandma picked up the book A Bad Case of Stripes and handed it to Grandpa. He started the book, using all his funny voices for all the people. I felt like I was in the story. As he read, I felt my eyes get heavy, and I tried to force them open. Finally, I gave up, just as grandpa finished the book. 

I woke up slowly. It took a while for my eyes to realize what was going on around me. Grandpa and Grandma were just leaving the room. As the door down on the floor closed, I realized that Emily had to be fed. 

"Where's Emily?" I asked sleepily. Grandma turned back and walked halfway up the stairs to me. 

"What honey?" She asked. 

"Where's Emily?" Grandma looked over at Grandpa who was in the doorway. 

"Where's the cat at Chris?" She asked. He started down the stairs to the main floor, then came back up as Grandma came up into the loft. 

"What about her honey?" 

"She's under the stairs in the living room." Grandpa yelled. 

"She hasn't been fed yet." Grandma smiled and moved the hair out of my face. 

"Oh sweetheart, we'll feed her. Now you just focus on getting back to sleep now." As she got up, Emily jumped up into bed with me. Emily was a black cat with eyes that glowed in the dark. She was my cat, and no one else got to feed her or pet her unless I said they could. 

"You can put food in Emily's bowl. But she sleeps with me." I said in my best bossy voice. Grandma laughed a little and headed down the stairs. 

"Alright, we will. I love you." 

"Night grandma!" 

"Goodnight Billy." Grandma closes the door to the room and the light inside leaves. I quickly turned over and turned on my night light, a little moon. 

"Goodnight Emily." I whispered. She purred and then laid her head on my neck. "You're such a cutie." She licked my chin and I giggled, trying to gently push her off. She finally got off me and walked down a few steps, laying there and getting ready to go to sleep. I stayed still in my bed, trying to listen to her breath. Just as I started to fall asleep, I saw a really bright flash and heard a giant crash of thunder, so big it shock the house. I sat up and screamed. 

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" I grabbed Emily as Grandma and Grandpa ran up the stairs. 

"Are you okay Billy?" I shock my head and began to cry, burying my face in Emily's fur. The lights turned on. 

"No. There was a really loud boom and it scared me to death." Grandma leaned down and gave me a long hard squeeze hug, holding me tight. 

"It's okay honey. Just some freak lighting strike. You're okay, we're okay, everyone's okay. You just get some sleep." I nodded and sniffed, trying to hide my tears.   
"Okay Grandma." I said. She smiled and kissed my head, then walked down to the light switch and turned off the lights. I cuddled up with Emily and laid back down, trying to go to sleep. The thunder kept echoing in my head and scaring me, but eventually, my eyelids got heavy again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so short, but I wanted to add a little bit of background for BJ, plus she adds an outside perspective for the events of the last chapter. If you haven't noticed, I'm kind of building off the final events for the chapter before and advancing the story every POV change. The next chapter will be no POV, so I might put it out early because this chapter was so short. 
> 
> I'm thinking about putting a story outline for a star wars story I wanna do up as another book here soon, so if anyone's into that be watching. If I get enough feedback I'll put it up here, and I'll do the same with my accounts of quotev and fanfiction.net. 
> 
> Please, please, please comment and tell me what you think! Criticism is always appreciated. Is there anything I missed when I edited this last? PLEASE tell me if anything is wrong with this!!


	5. The Open Gates

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No POV

At the old Sanderson house, everything was quite. The door hung open and all of the candles were lit up, but no one was there. 

Suddenly, the door flung open, revealing three vaguely outlined figures. The first figure, one in a green cloak, walked in, smiled, and exclaimed. 

"We're back! It really did work!!" The other two figures walked into the light, all jumping with joy and giddy with excitement. 

"But what brought us back?" The blonde with the purple cloak asked. The one in the green cloak grabbed the other girl by the ear and forced her close to her mouth. 

"You fool. In my last moments I sang to my book, and it heard and answered me!! But we must hurry. If we do not brew up the potion by dawn, we're dust again!" The other figure, with a red cloak and brown hair, dodged behind the counter in the house and then stood back up. 

"Uh, Winni, you're books not here." The green cloaked lady, Winnie, stepped toward the red cloaked woman. 

"My book isn't here? My book isn't... here??" She stepped a few feet closer, then pulled the red cloaked woman in by her arm. "My book isn't here!!! Mary, you bafone, what do you mean!?!?!" 

"Someone must have stolen it!" Mary yelled. Winnie dropped her to the floor, then walked toward the center of the floor. The other woman in the room danced around gleefully with a rat tail that was only bone. 

"But sister, who would take thigh book from thee?" Winnie walked right up to her and stuck her nose in the blondes face. 

"I don't know. Now Sarah, stop playing with those bones and start searching." 

"Look!" Mary shouted. "The candle, it's been lite!" Winnie pushed Sarah down and then ran over to the candle, shoving Mary out of the way. 

"Ah! So it has! Come sisters," She motioned toward the open door. "Whomever has the book must be the one who lite the Black Flame candle. We must get it before the dawn breaks, or else we will be dust!" The three women ran out the door and toward the road. 

"Let us take to the skies sisters!" Winnie yelled. In the garbage were three brooms, one with a broken handle, and a mop. Sarah and Winni grabbed the brooms and Mary grabbed the mop. "Let us tell all of Salem we are back and hungry for revenge!" 

"And Children!!!" Sarah shouted. Winnie rolled her eyes, then continued. 

"And children. Let all of Salem know, that we're back!" Winnie took to the skies, followed by Mary and Sarah. As they flew, there was a lightning strike followed by a clap of thunder. Sarah screamed and nearly fell off her broom. 

"Sisters, look!" Winnifred pointed toward the outskirts of the city, where the lightning had appeared to be striking. "Someone has used my book, there it will be where the lightning has hit." 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You okay Allison?" Max asked, glancing over at Allison as they neared city hall. She was wearing an Elastigirl costume they had ordered online, and Max was wearing a Mister Incredible costume. 

"Yeah," She sighed. Max grabbed her right hand a squeezed it tight. "I'm just a little bit worried about the kids. This being the first Halloween taking Billy out on there own." Max pulled up to town hall and parked the car along the sidewalk a little ways down. 

"It'll be just fine. See," He pointed to the clock in the car reading 9:15. "They've already dropped her off by this point. Everythings fine." As they got out of the car, there was a flash of light and then a loud clap of thunder. Everyone heading into the party stopped for a moment, wondering if the incident was freak or if some storm had just blown in. 

"Max, what was that?" 

"Just some freak lightning strike from a nearby storm or something. There's nothing to worry about, now come on." Max grabbed Allisons hand a walked her to the front door. After a quick I.D. check they were allowed to enter the party. 

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone expects the life after death to be something amazing, beautiful, and awesome. But there are different expectations. All day church service, party all night and day, the same life you've been living, just better? Will you look like how you did when you died, will everyone just be skeletons? Or will you be the age you were when you were happiest? What does life after death look like? Clouds, houses, giant mansions and lush gardens? And what to call it? Heaven, Valhalla, Olympus, life after death? 

That wasn't what it looked like in that neck of the woods. Literally. The grass was wet from a recent dew and everyone was wearing various stages of winter wear. Emily Binx talked freely with several of her friends, as her mother walked over to see how everything was going. She was a beautiful you woman, still with the vitality of a mid to late teenager. Her mother had a full head of brown hair and looked young a cheerful with a youthful and mischievous sparkle in her eye. Emily's father, who had along with his wife and farmhand Elijah been killed in an attack by Native Americans in the winter of 1695, held a good head of hair and looked about 10 years younger than he did when he died.

Although it was cold, the people of Salem never had to worry about, say, freezing to death. Every thing here was controlled by the people, and today was one of those days every tired of all the sun and fun, and that maybe a little autumn and winter maybe in order. Two young men strolled leisurely through the woods, talking amongst themselves. Both wore various stages of winter wear, with the blonde being a little bit more on the heavy side and the brunnette being on the lighter side.

"... I say Thackery, tis been 25 years and I still do not believe I've gleaned the full story out of thee." Thackery let out a small chuckle as Elijah spoke. 

"Tis been a long time since I have been asked to tell thee my story. Art thou sure thee would like to hear my story?" Elijah nodded. 

"T'would be a great honor to hear thou story from thee. For all the accounts of thigh story hath been told to me by others." 

"Well then..." Suddenly, there was a huge flash of light and a gargantuan crack of thunder that split the ears off all Salem. Both boys turned to face the village just as the lightning struck near the edge of the village. They gave each other a look then sprinted to the center of town. 

When the arrived, only Thackery's mother remained, pointing the way to the phenomenon for others. 

"Mother, what hath happened here?" 

"I do not know yet Thackery, I am bout to join thigh father there now." Thackery and Elijah sprinted ahead of his mother, toward the crowd at the forts opening. The gates had been thrown open to reveal... another gate, made out of black rought iron. 

"That gate, tis familiar to me!" Thackery exclaimed as Elijah helped him push toward the front of the crowd. 

"Settle down, everyone, tis time to settle down!" A scream, coming from beyond the metal gate echoed through the area, causing more screams of alarm from the others gathered together. 

"Father, father!" Thackery yelled. 

"Mr. Binx!" Elijah spotted him near the gate, conferring with several of the other elders, many of which had been killed in the same attack he had been. 

"Tis a frightening scene for all. But do any of thigh know what has happened here..." Thackery ran up as his father was talking. "Thackery, dear boy, what tis wrong?" 

"The gate father, tis familiar. I do believe I have seen it somewhere." 

"What the hell did you do?" A boys voice, a little bit squeaky, echoed across

"How the hell am I supposed to know! The gate's glowing!!" Thackery looked through the gate to see three kids, two boys and a girl, arguing over something. In the girls hand was a book, looking to be bound in human skin....

"The girl, in her hands. Tis Winnifred Sanderson's book! She hast the book!!!" The crowd began to mutter at Thackery's comment, and within a moment, Elijah had noticed the same thing. 

"Tis the devilish Sanderson's book. But the girl, tisn't Winnifred Sanderson or a sister of hers." 

"Tis more to this story than meets the eye." Thackery's father muttered. 

"Thigh inquiry may be true father, might I ask for permission from thee, to go and to see what hast happened and what may happen?" His father gave him a look full of longing. 

"Son, I spent three hundred years mourning you, with thee no where to be found in all the worlds. Twas only 25 years ago that I found thee again. But if thigh must go, then go swiftly, bring with thee a man you can trust. If it is safe for more to come with, signal the commons to come." Elijah stepped up to Thackery. 

"Thackery, might I go with thee?" Thackery nodded. 

"Tis no one else in the world of the living nor dead I would rather be at my side in peril. I shall return, no matter what." His father smiled as the boys approached the gate. 

"Thackery," A small, fragile, yet beautiful voice followed them. Thackery and Elijah turned to see Emily standing there, clutching a shall to her neck. 

"I will be back soon Emily. This I can promise thee. Thou shan't have to wait long." With that, Thackery and Elijah approached, the gate, took a breath, and paused.   
"Ready my friend?" Thackery turned to ask. Elijah gave a small nod. 

"Ready as thou I should hope." Thackery chuckled and took the first step through the gate. He quickly disappeared, then was followed by Elijah. Once the boys left, they appeared on the other side of the gate. The gate made no hints that it would close anytime soon. 

When Thackery and Elijah walked through, they were assaulted by darkness. It was night. 

"This place..." Thackery murmured, looking around. He did a full 360, his cape sweeping around his feet. "Tis farmilliar to me." 

"Tis the place we buried Emily's body." Elijah gapped. Suddenly, a twig snapped and the two made a sharp turn toward the sound. Standing there were the three kids they had seen on the other side of the gate. 

"Oh crap." The brunnette boy said. "They saw us."

"What the hell is happening?" The blonde boy asked. The girl held something to her chest, a black duffle bag lay at her feet. Thackery squinted a little bit, then gapped. In the girls hands was Winnifred Sanderson's spell book. 

"Tis Winnifred Sanderson's spell book! What hast thou done with it?" Thackery took two large steps forward, sending the kids skittering back. Elijah also moved forward, but stayed in Thackery's wake. 

"Surely tisn't her spell book."

"But it tis, I hath seen it with mine own eyes, for nearly 300 hundred years..." 

"What are you doing with that spell book girl?" Elijah demanded. The girl jumped back a little bit, then lowered the book to her waist. 

"First off... your old English is really cringy. Second, where did you come from?" Thackery looked back to see an open gate, but no one on the other side, just a path lined with trees leading farther down into the cemetery, in a fenced of area. 

"Tis a trick!"

"Dude, it's not a trick," The girl said. She took a deep breath, then spoke again. "A virgin lit the candle, if you catch my drift."


	6. Whelp, Whelp, Whelp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie POV

Whelp, Whelp, Whelp

"Hear me, you souls beyond the grave!  
Fling open the gates, come toward me.  
Hear my voice and know my words.   
By dawn though shalt return to thine own world.  
Until then, walk on this Earthly Plane.  
For though may never see it again."

As I finished the spell, there was a huge flash of lightning and a very loud clap of thunder. I screamed, and then we all ducked. 

"What the hell did you do?" Daniel yelled. 

"I don't know!" Another clap of thunder rolled through, and then lightning struck in the cemetery. I screamed again as the lightning struck the raught iron gate, then ducked under the weight of Daniel and Zechariah shielding me... or dog piling me, or something. I looked up to see one of the boys had his arm over his eyes. I squinted through them to see that there was a bright light coming in the direction that I was facing. I turned around and buried my face in my hands, doubling over to try and keep out the extraordinarily bright light. Almost at that exact moment, the light began to fade away and I slowly could see it was getting darker. I unburried my hands and started to movie out of the dog pile. 

"What happened?" Zechariah asked, inching toward the gate. As I stood up, I grabbed the book, holding it close to my chest. 

"I did something." The gate, I could see, was giving off a faint yellow glow, almost like a halo. 

"Yeah, and that something was bad." 

"What the hell did you do?" Daniel yelled, coming toward me in a worried panicky, angry way. 

"How the hell am I supposed to know!!!" I screamed. "I'm not a witch or something!" 

"We never should have opened that book!" Zechariah yelled over us. I swirled around in a flurry and marched right up to him. 

"You never should have lit that stupid candle nitwit!" 

"Well Daniel shouldn't have dared me!" 

"You could've said no!" Daniel shouted, walking even closer to Zechariah. 

"Well I'm broke!" 

"Daniel's broke to idiot! You're not getting...." Suddenly, as I glanced back toward the gate, I could see the scenery behind it move and shift, like it was magic or something. Well, it was magic. 

"What. The. Hell." Daniel whispered. 

"Move back, move back!" I yelped. I pushed on Daniel as the scene behind the gate moved even more, swirling sort of. I grabbed my duffle bag and ducked behind a tree only a few feet from the gate. 

"What's going on!?" Zechariah whispered. I shoved my hand in his face and shushed him. At that moment, two young me in Colonial Era clothes walked out of the gate. They talked amongst themselves and then one of them, a blonde, did a 360 turn. I dodged behind the tree and put my back to it, breathing hard and trying to keep it under control. I looked forward and saw Zechariah peaking out behind another tree, and Daniel hiding behind a grave. 

I breathed out, then took a step out from behind the tree. I stepped right on a twig, and it snapped. I took a sharp inhale at the sound, crisp and sharp, as I grimaced at my mistake. I jumped out from behind the tree to grab my duffle bag and got ready to run. The other boys ran toward me as the two people turned around and saw us. 

"Oh crap," Daniel whispered. "They just saw us." Zechariah screamed. 

"What the hell is happening?!?!" I slapped my hand over his mouth and shushed him, holding the spell book to my chest with my left hand. The blonde guy squinted at me and then gaped. 

"Tis Winifred Sanderson's spell book! What hast thou done with it?" 

"Surely tisn't her spell book." Both moved toward us, and I stepped back, taking my hand off Zechariah's mouth and grabbed my duffle bag.  
"But it Tis, I hath seen it with mine own eyes, for nearly 300 hundred years..." 

"What are you doing with that spell book girl?" The brunette demanded. I jumped back as he stepped past the blonde guy. I snapped the book up toward my face defensively, then a moment later I brought it down near my waist. 

"First off... your old English is really cringey. Second, where did you come from?" The blonde looked back at the gate, then back at us and gaped.  
"Tis a trick!"

"Dude, it's not a trick," I said. I took a deep breath and stared the blonde down in the eyes. Then, I spoke up. "A virgin lit the candle, if you catch my drift." Both boys looked at each other and then back at us, their faces a contortion between anger and frustration. 

"Which one of though Tis the virgin?" The brunette asked defensively. I glanced back at Zechariah nervously, as did Daniel. 

"Uh, the blonde over here. Uh, Zechariah. That's his name. Sorry." Zechariah gave me a look that resembled a child about to break into a crying fit. 

"Why did thou lite the candle!" The blonde made a sort of waving motion with a couple of fingers at the gate, then started walking toward us along with the brunette.

"First tell us who..." 

"AAA HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!" A piercing laugh snapped through out conversation and drew all heads all up toward the sky. There, only a few feet to my left, flying on brooms, were three women in red, green, and purple cloaks. 

"Ah dammit!" Daniel murmured. A glance back at Zechariah showed him in a state of disbelief and horror. 

"Well, if it tisn't three little pretties? Care to tell us which of thee three lite the Black Flame Candle?" I stared up at them, feeling the color leave my face and at the same time my cheeks getting warm. 

"Winifred Sanderson!" I looked back to see the blonde guy, looking up at her with a hand on his hat. He had to crane his neck back pretty far to see her. 

"Ah, Thackery Binx, waiting for me?" The middle one, in the green cloak, Winifred, yelled down at the blonde. 

"Quite the opposite actually!" The brunette yelled. 

"Elijah, will though be quite!" Thackery, the blonde kid, yelled to the brunette. I glanced over behind them to see the scenery behind the gate moving and swirling. 

"The gate's doing it's thing again!" I yelled. Daniel looked over and stared. 

"Winnie, it's your book!!" I snapped my neck over to the witches to see the one in the red cloak pointing at me. 

"Damnit." I yelped. I took off running, toward the graves parallel to the gate. At that moment, three people entered through the gate, I could hear them. 

"Thackery, what Tis happening?!" A young girls voice asked. 

"Dammnit, run!!!!!!!" I screamed. I tried to turn into a denser part of the trees, but I caught my foot on a large root as I turned. My momentum took me forward and I heard my leg snap as I hit the ground face first. I felt wind on my back almost as soon as I hit the ground. 

"Jackie!" One of the boys yelled. Using my arms I pushed my face up high enough to spit out the mouthful of dirt and moss I had tried to eat. Then, I bit down on my lip, hard. There was a hot needle like pain in my leg and it was taking everything I had to not start balling or screaming. I fell forward just as the two boys got to me.   
"Jackie, Jackie, hold on!" Daniel yelled. I felt three or four hands grab my stomach and waist and try and roll me over. This was accomplished, but with great pain to me. There was now a large bloody gash in my lips from where I had bit down and I could taste it in my mouth. 

"Are you okay?" Zechariah asked. I shook my head, the tears starting to spill over my eye lids and blurring my vision. 

"Be gone witches!!" I heard a very large and in charge voice, and then some sort of sizzling. I was still lying on that book, which was now uncomfortably wedged between my lower back and the ground. 

"We have to get her help!" Daniel yelled. I was crying now, it hurt so bad. In the dim light I could see that there was blood all over my leg and the boys hands.   
"Can I be of assistance to thee?" I heaved in a heavy sob and tried to keep from crying out or wailing. I nodded my head and kept on biting down on my bloody bottom lip. I could vaguely see it was the blonde guy from the gate. 

"Who are you even?" Daniel asked, trying to be a protective big brother. "How can we trust you?" 

"I'm Thackery Binx." 

"Just make it stop." I whispered through the tears. Suddenly, I heard loud boot thuds and then someone else was casting a shadow over me in the dim light.

"Let me see her injury." The Thackery kid moved back, but my brother stayed close to me, grabbing my hand and squeezing it hard. It gave me a breathable moment and I could almost forget the pain. 

"Art thou alright child?" I shook my head, still biting my lip, trying to get out one word without breaking down in sobs. 

"No." I whispered, the tears coming in torment. I could vaguely see through the man a little bit, like he was a ghost. Just like the Thackery kid. 

"Just make it stop, please, she's in a hell of a lot of pain man." Daniel said. I craned my neck around to see his face, and there were tears in his eyes. 

"I shall't do my best. This I promise." 

"Is she going to be alright?" The man grabbed my leg and held it, causing me severe pain. 

"Ah! Damn bro! Stop, it hurts!!!" I screamed and screamed and screamed, the tears flowing freely. Suddenly, a greenish white light popped up in my field of vision. My leg was back to lying on the ground and the light was on the leg. As the light twinkled, I could feel waves of calm rushing over my whole body, taking the pain with them. 

"This better not be a drug." I murmured in disbelief. The light was coming from the mans hands, and he was looking at me, right in the eyes. He gave a small smile and then stopped. As he pulled his hands off my leg, I got a chance to see it. 

It was completely healed. No blood, no bone that may or may not have been sticking out, and no scratches or scars. Except for some weird little hand print indent in my skin. 

"What did you do man?" Daniel asked. The man stood up and then held out a hand for me. 

"Father..." Thackery stepped forward as I grabbed the mans hand and stood up. "What did thou do?" 

"Son...." He murmured, turning to face Thackery. The brunette was behind Thackery and looking in utter disbelief. "I'm.... I have... I have a secret thou doesn't know about thee." He breathed heavily. "I'm a Wizard."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please, please, please leave feedback on this! When I go back and update it I'm gonna need the feedback. Any grammatical mistakes? Anything? Please!!
> 
> I'm sorry I didn't update on time, how would a double update sound?


	7. Well this is Awkward

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel POV

Everyone was quite for a full 30 seconds to a minute. No joke. What ever bombshell that guy had just dropped left everyone around us speechless. I still held Jackie's hand tight and was in a crouch sort of stance. The guys hand was still out and waiting for Jackie. She finally grabbed it and stood up slowly, testing the leg. 

"Are you okay?" I whispered into her ear. She nodded as I pulled away. 

"I'm fine, just a little shaky." I could feel her hand trying to wiggle out of mine and I let my hand loosen so she could. She pulled out her phone and turned it on, the blue glow illuminating her face. She sucked in a sharp breath and groaned. 

"Great, just freakin' great!" Jackie blurted. The colonial people had stopped their staring match and were now watching Jackie like a hawk. She turned on her phone's flashlight and now had everyone's attention. I sucked in a breath of cold, crisp air. The air sucked the moisture out of my mouth but burned my nose so I was going with my mouth for the breathing option at the moment. 

"What tis the girl doing?" The brunette asked not so discretely. 

"Looking... for my... bag..." She muttered. I slowly started walking toward Zechariah, my feet crunching leaves and making my move not so stealthy. Still, the colonial weirdo's were intent with watching Jackie like one of those cats on the internet watching outside the window. As I got closer to Zechariah, he began to realize what I was doing and walked over to me. 

"What's going on here?" Zechariah asked, leaning toward my ear. I shrugged and kept a close eye on the scene in front of me. Jackie had found her bag and was now walking toward us. 

"Uh, I think the older guys a fricking wizard." I murmured. Jackie had been stopped by the group of colonials who seemed to be questioning her. 

"We should probably go help her." Zechariah suggested. I shifted my weight and then nodded. I started walking toward the colonial people, the leaves crunching under my feet. One of them, a teenaged girl in a shawl, turned around as we moved. 

"Whom art thou?" She asked. I kept walking, trying to ignored the question, but Zechariah stopped, my feet were now the only ones crunching leaves.

"I'm Zechariah Morgan." He said. I turned back and gave him a are you real right now look and walked back over to him. 

"I'm Daniel Denison." She nodded and gave us a small smile.

"I'm Emily Binx." 

"Cool," I said, pushing past her and Zechariah and toward Jackie. As I moved toward her I could hear her voice elevating in fury.

"I don't care if your Harry Potter reincarnate, I need to leave!" 

"You released the witches!" The blonde, Thackery Binx I remembered, yelled. 

"That was my brother betting Zechariah 100 bucks to do it. Not me!" Suddenly, a dog bark intruded on the conversation. The colonial people turned to look around and Sage pulled out her phone, quickly typing in the pass code. I sighed in relief, for a second I had thought that was a dog. 

"Great," Sage turned to face me and Zechariah, her face was straight but her voice sounded annoyed and pissed off. "Phoenix is trying to find me, we have to go on earlier than expected." 

"When?" Zechariah asked. 

"At 10 so..." She pulled out her phone and turned it on really quickly. "15 minutes." She continued into her texts and texted something, then headed for the hill up to the top of the cemetery. 

"Where are you going girl!" Yelled the older man, seemingly pissed off. 

"I'm going to go perform an original song with my band. I'm the only singer at the moment. Fight me old guy!" Jackie continued up the hill, but the old guy had had it with her. 

"Get back here child!" He yelled, running up after her. Jackie just turned around and flipped him off. I couldn't believe it. Zechariah started laughing and I joined in. The guy just kinda stopped and stood there, watching as Jackie walked up the rest of the hill, crest it, and disappear from view. He then proceeded to walk down and toward the group of dead people. 

"Should we go after her?" Zechariah asked. 

"Yeah, let's go." I started toward the stairs in the hill, hoping to minimize the amount of walking I would have to do. 

"Where art thou going?" I stopped in my tracks, Zechariah bumping into me. I groaned and turned around. The brunette seemed to have separated himself from the group and was seemingly pissed off. Plus his hand was raised as if he expected to be able to invisibly stop us with the force or something.

"Bro, it's a free country. I don't gotta do what you want man." I started back up the hill again and got about halfway up this time. 

"Where did you get the spell book?" The voice rattled in my head, it was the old guy. I kind of shrugged it off but Zechariah started talking. 

"We went into the Sanderson House to get the book as a prank and to prove that the witches really did come back in 1993 like Jackie's parents told her. When we went in Daniel offered me a hundred dollars to light the candle and I did, even though we already had the book. Jackie ran in after I lit the candle and we all saw the floors move up and down and there was green light under them. We ran out and then came here. She used a spell and then you showed up." Zechariah had droned on, almost as if he was annoyed and just saying something to get it over with. 

"Zechariah? You okay?" I walked in front of him and waved my hand in his face. He didn't move. I looked closer at his face. He looked completely blank and his eyes seemed to be glazed over in a sort of gray color. 

"What did you do to him?!?!" I screamed, turning back to look at the older guy. He had a grave look on his face and everyone else was staring at him. 

"Father..." Thackery took a step toward his father, fist clenched. His father turned around, and behind me Zechariah groaned. I stepped back and took a quick peek back. He seemed fine and was rubbing his head, murmuring under his breath. 

"I'm sorry son," The older guy said. "I wish I could have told you on better terms..." Thackery's fist flew through the air, but stopped only inches from the old guys face. 

"Thackery!" The older woman cried out. The brunette jumped the old guy and clung to him, holding him tight and fast. He was thrown off by the old guy and when he landed was kept on the ground by smoky colored gray chains that looked like they were made of smoke. 

"You're a witch father! You lied to the entire village!" Thackery yelled, knocking his father to the ground. 

"Thackery, Jethro, stop this!" The younger woman screamed. 

"Emily, stop it right now!" The brunette broke free on his bonds and was now running toward the guy I assumed was Jethro. 

"Elijah, help me!" Thackery was thrown off and Elijah, the brunette, jumped on Jethro's back again. 

"Primrose, please... explain to them!!!" The man went down on top of Elijah and Thackery jumped on top of him. 

"Did you tell the Sanderson sisters to take Emily, to turn me into a cat?" Jethro remained silent from what I could hear. Zachariah gasped behind me and a slight breeze ruffled through my hair. I sniffled as snot rolled out of my nose. Out of nowhere, there was a loud, high pitched, sinister laugh. 

"Why no stranger, we do not take orders from the likes of Jethro Binx." Jethro physically pushed Thackery off and rolled off of Elijah just to stand up. Both me and Zechariah glanced at each other, then up. Above us were three menacing shadowy figures on what looked like brooms.

" Fa... damn it!" I screamed. 

"Tis Winnifred Sanderson!" Emily screamed. Her mother, Primrose I assumed, was staring up in utter horror, and the three men all seemed to be having a half starting match, half look at the evil people battle. 

"What does thou want, you devil woman?!" Jethro yelled up to them. 

"I want my book!" She snapped. "So who has it??" 

"None of us you old hags!" Elijah yelled. Thackery pulled him back hard, seeming to whisper something into his ear. 

"Ah..." Winnifred said, smiling. "It would seem the book is somewhere else in Salem. Come sisters, we fly!" The three witches laughed and then disappeared behind a tree line. I followed them as far as I could with my eyes and then charged up the hill to try and catch one more glimpse of them. By the time I got to the top, they were long gone, only their laughs still remained in the grave yard. 

"Wait..." Zechariah gasped. "I don't have the spell book..." 

"And neither do I..." I gasped. 

"Jackie! They're going to town hall to get Jackie!" Zechariahs started toward the gates then stopped. 

"Why town hall?" I shrugged. 

"She's probably performing at the dance there. Come on!" I yelled, charging through the gates. "We have to get to her before the witches do." 

"We'll take my car!" Zechariah yelled, pulling out his keys and starting the silver Chevy. He hopped in the drivers side as I hopped in the passenger. As soon as I was in he took of toward main street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE LEAVEME FEEDBACK!!!!
> 
> I will get back to my regular once weekly update schedule.


	8. Music, Magic, and Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zecheriah POV

Music, Magic, and a Reunion

"Go, go, go!" Daniel yelled as I hit the gas. The Chevy's wheels screeched for a second and then got traction, sending us loose like a slingshot. I barely kept in my lane as I fought to get control of the vehicle. Once I did I made a quick mental map to where we were heading. 

"Do you think we can beat the witches?" I asked. Daniel was watching the road with an intense stare. He seemed really tense. 

"I hope so." He sat back a little bit and let out a loud, apprehensive breath. "The witches probably don't know where the book is, so we've got a little bit of an advantage." I nodded in agreement and then took a left turn toward the town hall. 

"I just really hope that Jackie doesn't do anything that will cue them off to her." Daniel chuckled. 

"That sounds like her though." I took another turn and then kept on straight. 

"We'll get there in like a minute or two." Daniel didn't respond, so my comment just sort of hung in the air. 

My guess had been right, we arrived at Town Hall about a minute later. There was literally no parking spots anywhere on the block which set us back a bit. I ended up parking in the parking lot of a seafood restaurant a little ways away and then we got out and walked the rest of the way to town hall. 

Once we got to the front, we passed by the bouncers without much trouble and blended into the crowd of parents and other adults from town. 

"Split up and try to find Jackie!" Daniel yelled to me over the music. "If you find her call me or something." 

"You do the same!" I yelled, walking toward the front of the room. Daniel went to the right and disappeared between somebody dressed like a vampire and a couple of Egyptian people. Somebody bumped into me from behind and sent me tripping over myself and eventually onto the floor. I got up as quick as I could and nearly got my hand stepped on by somebody's high heel. I got knocked down again and scrambled up and sprinted toward the stage. The music that had been blasting when we entered was gone and all I could hear was yelling, talking, and conversation. 

"Alrighty Salem! Give it up for our next band, a little hometown hero, The Saints of Salem!" The MC ran off stage and the lights dimmed out. The entire room was left in the dark. Somebody screamed and a couple more people snickered but the conversation persisted. Suddenly, a mic turned on and somebody started talking.

"We all know the legend of old Salem Town! The stories of Thackery Binx and those buried in the ground. Let me tell you a story and I'll let you decide. Was it real, or all just a jive?" There was an evil laugh and somebody bumped into me again as the lights came back up. 

"What's going on?" I turned around to see Daniel having to yell over the music. There was a band on stage, everyone was dressed up like a skeleton with bones painted onto black clothes and skull face paint to match.

"Well I'll tell ya a story of Ol' Salem Town. When this kid named Thackery got his life turned upside. He was minding his own business and couldn't ask for much more, then his sister went running from the village with a whore." I recognized the voice as being Jackie's. So we had been right about her being here. That was about the only relief I felt. 

"What the hell is she signing?" Daniel yelled over the crowd. 

"Well he followed them into the forest then tripped on some thorns. Rolled down the hill and landed like a unicorn. His sister went into the house with that witchy whore, and it all got worse when the witches started to roar. I say Poor ol' Thackery Binx! Poor Ol' Thackery Binx! When you follow the witch you're gonna get the storm, Poor Ol' Thackery Binx!" We kept on listening and glancing around, trying to find a way to the front. As Jackie finished up the first verse and possibly the first chorus a group of girls entered the room. 

The three of them wore long hooded cloaks in three different colors: red, green, and purple. They all had brooms and two of them were larger than the one in the purple cloak. 

"When the witches found him lying on the upper room floor, they threw him' against the wall and nearly out the door. He poured out the potion but they got his little sis. Called a hag and he's about to get what he gets!" The heavy metal tone was wearing on my nerves as I watched the three ladies. Suddenly, it hit me. 

"The witches are here!!!!" I yelled. Daniel shot around to face me, panic strew on his face. 

"Are you kidding me, please be kidding me!!!???!" I pointed toward the witches as the chorus raged on and Daniels' face fell. "You're not kidding. Damnit!" Somebody glanced over at us but turned back around to dance again. 

"Well Winnie got to thinking, hey! he shouldn't die! Let's make him into a yummy meat pie! But no, they said, I know what we'll do. Boy we're gonna make a black cat outta you!" Daniel ran toward the witches, and I followed suit. 

"You better know what you're doing!" Daniel grabbed one of their arms, the girl in the green cloak, Winnifred I thought. She turned to face us as the bridge started.   
"On all Hallows Eve when the moon is round a virgin shall summon us from under the ground. We shall return and all the children of Salem shall be mine!!!!!" Jackie dragged out mine way longer than I personally thought it needed to be. 

"Who are you?" The witch asked. 

"Stay away from my sister!" Daniel yelled at her. The witch in the purple cloak started to smile and laugh. She was acting overly giddy. 

"Poor Thackery Binx. Neither his father, nor his mother, nor anyone else ever knew what became of him, those 325 years ago. And so, the Sanderson Sisters were hanged by the Salem townsfolk. Now there are those who say on Halloween night, a black cat still guards the old Sanderson house, warning off anyone who might make the witches come back to life!" Jackie did a really convincing creepy monologue and then an evil laugh. The lights went down and Daniel let out a shriek. When the lights came back up the witches were gone and Daniel was half up from on the ground. 

"Hello Salem!" I twirled around toward where the voice came from and saw Winnifred on the stage with her sisters flanking her. Jackie's band was backed up on the back part of the stage, all of them looking equally bewildered and confused. 

"It's the Sanderson Sisters!" Somebody yelled. I didn't recognize it but Daniel perked up quite a bit when the person yelled. 

"Ah. Looks like somebody remembers us from the last time." Winnifred muttered. "Yes, tis I, Winnifred Sanderson!" 

"Uh, Winnie. Don't forget us." The girl in the red cap leaned into to Winifred's ear but the sound got picked up by the mic anyway. 

"Yes. And these are my sisters Mary and Sarah." The witch in the purple cape jumped up and down a couple times then returned to a standing position. "Someone here is in possession of my spell book." She paused. "So hand it over!" 

"Nice costume lady!" Somebody yelled. 

"Real creative!" Winnifred seemed to be getting really pissed off, and Daniel was getting red in the face. 

"We need to get Jackie out of there." He whispered to me. I nodded then whispered back. 

"How?" 

"Sneak around one side, I'll sneak around the other." 

"Okay." He went to the right and I went left, skimming to the side of the crowd. There was a lot of conversation and it looked like the band on stage was trying to go backstage but couldn't. 

"It tis I Winnifred Sanderson and I shall prove it." She turned around and surveyed all of the kids in the back. Several of them cowered in fear and a few of them laughed. 

"Yeah right!" Somebody, whose voice I recognized as Joe Diaz, yelled. Winnifred seemed to perk up and I could see her smile as I got to the side of the stage.   
"Well, since you're so eager to volunteer..." 

"Winnie, please..." Sarah started bouncing up and down. Jackie, who was wearing a gray scarf and was toward the front of the pile cowered and glanced over at Joe. "Let me play with him." 

"Sarah quit it!" Winnifred smacked Sarah's hand. "The boy is not one of your incessive play things!!" Winnifred took a step toward Joe, and then Daniel shot across the stage and tackled Sarah, the closest person to his position. 

"Daniel no!" I heard Mr. Denison scream and saw a few people run toward the stage. Winnifred quickly turned around as I charged up the stage. She held out her hand and green lightning came out, grabbing Daniel and lifting him up off Sarah. 

"Daniel!" I screamed. Jackie jumped up and grabbed Winifred's arm, tugging on it and trying to pull it back. 

"You incessive girl, get off of me!" More lightning came from her fingers, this lighting meant to knock Jackie back into the other band members. I stopped just past the stairs. Daniel was floating high above the crowd and several people were screaming. 

"Since no one seems to be cooperating, I shall make a deal. Hand over my spell book, and I will let this one live." 

"Put my son down right now Winnifred!" Mr. Denison stood on the stage with Mrs. Denison behind him on the top stair and Daniel's aunt Dani standing next to Mrs. Denison. All of them wore colonial costumes that looked really old. Winnifred stared at him in confusion, as well as some of the other people in the room. 

"Do I know you?" 

"I should hope so!" Mrs. Denison snapped. "We haven't changed that much." 

"I have!" Dani shouted. Several of the other adults in the room looked around in confusion, and so did I. 

"Winnifred, put my son down now." Mr. Denison demanded. "I will not ask you again!" Winnifred looked back at her sisters, then they all started laughing. 

"And just what will you do?" 

"Take you back to the cemetery!" Dani yelled. 

"Dani, you're not helping!" Mr. Denison yelled back. Winnifred's face suddenly contorted from happiness to anger in about 2 seconds flat. 

"You, you're those pesky kids from the last time! What are you doing here?!" 

"Dad, get me down from here!" Daniel yelled. He was groaning and clutching his stomach, obviously in a lot of pain. Mr. Denison took a step forward and Winnifred backed up. 

"Daniel. I'll get you down. I promise." 

"Bring me my spell book, and I'll let him down." Winnifred snickered. "I'll give you until, say, an hour before dawn." With that she tucked her broom under her and shot up through the ceiling and into the sky. Her two sisters followed. 

"Help me!" Daniel screamed. Mr. Denison charged into the spot that the witches had just been and Jackie screamed. I ran toward her and nearly crashed into her and some of the other band members. 

"You okay?" I asked. Jackie nodded. 

"We have to get Daniel back!" Suddenly, the room enveloped in a panic and everyone started to stream out, screaming in a mass hysteria. 

"What the hell is happening?" I asked. Jackie shrugged, got up, and ran toward her parents. 

"What's happening?" Mrs. Denison asked, grabbing Jackie and pulling her into a hug. 

"Long story short, I released the witches." I said quietly. Mr. Denison gave me a grave look. 

"You what?" 

"Where is Winnifred?" Everyone suddenly turned to see the group from the cemetery, with the Jethro guy a little bit beat up, standing in the middle of the vacated dance floor. 

"Oh my god." Dani whispered. "Is that Thackery?" The blonde looked at her with a quizzical eye. 

"Dost thou know me? Or do I know of thee?" Dani nodded, and it looked like she was crying, or at least there were tears in her eyes. 

"Thackery Binx. It's me. Dani Denison." Thackery gaped at her, standing stalk still. 

"Dani... Does that mean that? Max, Allison?" Mr. Denison gapped and then smiled, with Mrs. Denison just smiling. 

"Hey Thackery." She waved at him. Jackie and I both gave each other a look and just watched the reunion. 

"Uh, they know each other?" I whispered. Jackie nodded. 

"I guess." 

"Thackery..." The teenaged girl said. "Dost thou know these people?" Thackery nodded, then looked back at the rest of the people. 

"Mother, Father, Emily, Elijah..." Thackery smiled back at Jackie's parents. "These are Dani, Allison, and Max Denison. Twas them who helped me return to thee."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the song is not formatted well and it's so cringe. If I can manage to finish this thing and get it up here, then I'm gonna fix it, totally rework it when I go back and edit. Might even make it for Ukulele or dust off the old keyboard (that probably won't be happening, LOL)
> 
> Also, if this isn't formatted like the other chapters, just tell me. I don't check how I formatted the previous chapters before hand and I'm to lazy to just open another tab and check, yet I can sit her a type out this long and pointless end note. 
> 
> As always, criticism is always appreciated.


	9. "HOMicIDal WItcHEs!!!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie POV

Zechariah and I looked each other straight in the eyes for a split second. Then I made a disgusted sound in the back of my throat.

"Not to interrupt this fun little reunion..." I began, stepping in-between my parents and Thackeray's group. "But isn't Daniel currently being carried away by HOMicIDlal WItcHEs!!!!!" Dad's face suddenly went pale.

"We have to do something!!" Mom screamed. Thackeray was immediately taken aback, and the rest of his group looked around at each other in utter confusion. 

Thackeray nodded after the initial shock, then started talking, planning stuff out. 

"So, what do they want, did they say?" Zechariah looked at me, then spoke up. 

"They want the spell book," He blurted. I turned around and gave him the death glare, which was hard being in about 20 pounds of stage makeup. "Jackie stole it while we were up there, as a prank..." 

"Jackie Binx Dennison!!" Dad roared, stomping over to me. "What were you doing at the Sanderson house, after dark, on a school night, on Halloween, during a full moon!!" I leaned back, trying to avoid the spray of spit that came flying from his mouth. "We have told you for how long about the mistakes that your mother and I made so you wouldn't make them, and what did you do? You went and made them!" I was taken aback, and took a step to my right. 

"Dad... I" 

"No!" Dad yelled at me, climbing onto the stage and getting in my face again. "You never listened. How many times have I told you..." 

"Max!" My mom yelled, running up the stairs on the right side of the stage and grabbing my dads arm. "Okay," She started breathing heavily. "Yes, it's her fault. But she has heard that so many times. We told her that story at least once a week for 16 years. What would you have done at her age?" My dad leaned away from my face and took a step back, shaking his head. I snorted and stomped over toward Zechariah, who was standing near the backdrop of the stage. My cheeks were flushed red and rage ran hot in my blood. I glanced back to see my mom hugging my dad, trying to calm him down or something. Zechariah grabbed my left shoulder, but I wanted no part of it. I grabbed his hand, squeezed it extremely hard, and threw it across his body. 

"No." I said through gritted teeth. "Don't you dare touch me." Zechariah threw his hands up in a surrender, stepping back from me. I gave him credit, he knew I had my dad's temper, and if I got pissed off then you were screwed. 

Everyone was preoccupied. Mom and dad were occupied, Zechariah was talking with my friends Cal and Logan (a brother sister pair with Logan on drums and Cal on the bass during our performances), and Thackeray's little group-o-ghosts was standing around in a tight circle, talking. I sat down on the edge of stage, dangling my legs over the side and kicking them back and forth. I got a couple of disgruntled stares out of that Elijah guy, but nothing more from anyone else. Until Aunt Dani sat down next to me. 

She was about as tall as my mother, 5'6" ish. and I was right around her height, so I could look her right in the eye. As she sat down, she grabbed my shoulder and gave it a little squeeze, which was her sign that she was about to start a deep conversation with one of us. 

"So... What exactly happened?" I sighed, and glanced over at her. Dani was wearing another old timey costume from one of Mimi and Papa's many parties. She had a small smile on her face and I could see she was glancing at Thackeray and company. 

"I got dared by Paige to get the book and bring it to school tomorrow as proof, with 10 bucks riding on that bet. So, after we got Billy-Jo back to the house, me and Daniel ran out and met Zechariah at the Sanderson house. My only intention was to get in, get the book, get out, show Paige, get my ten bucks, and take it back tomorrow after school. Problem is that Daniel bet Zechariah a hundred bucks he didn't have that he couldn't light the black flame candle." Aunt Dani gaped. "So, Zechariah lit it and we all yeeted out of there. We went to the cemetery and I screwed around with a spell from the spell book. I think I accidentally opened a gate to the world of the dead because out pops Mr. 17th Century and co. Then, after he found us and demanded the book, his whole entourage came out, and his dad -I think his name is Jethro- used some weird glowy magicy stuff to heal my ankle when it snapped. Then, Thackeray and Elijah went and attacked him, and I snuck out to get to my gig on time. Then Daniel and Zechariah show up with the witches in tow, and you know the rest." When I looked back over at Aunt Dani, she was holding her hand over her mouth, trying to keep a laugh inside. 

"That was pretty good," She chuckled, then turned serious. "But seriously, you shouldn't have done that. Just don't let your dad get to you. He only wanted to protect you. He never really told you this, but he still feels guilty about letting the Sanderson Sisters out. "

"Even though it was 25 years ago?" I glanced over to see my dad and Thackeray embrace. 

"Even though it was 25 years ago." About that time, Thackeray came over and was standing in front of us, presumably from ghosting through us to get to Dani.   
"Dani, I hope thou remembers me." Dani smiled and I saw a tear streak down her face. She pushed herself off the stage and went over to hug Thackeray. Feeling isolated, I pulled myself up the stage and passed my parents, who were talking to Thackeray's parents. The teen girl, Emily, was trying to strike up a conversation with Zechariah and the other band members, with Elijah watching her like a hawk. When Zechariah saw me he broke away from the group and came a couple of steps closer, leaning into my ear. 

"We have to get out of here and get Daniel." 

"Yeah, I know that much. But how? They want the spell book, but if they get it then they'll have everything they need to take Daniel's life force. And all the other kids, teens, and young adults in Salem for that matter." About that time, Kali, the sound check guy, came out from backstage. 

"I wanna get out of here man, how do we ditch these ghosty guys?" Jasmine, another good friend of mine who did backup vocals came out too. 

"Besides, we gotta find your brother. If those freako witches got to him..." I was starting to get a little bit overwhelmed. 

"Look, the only ultimatum we have is to return the spell book, but we can't do that because then Winifred Sanderson will eat the life force of all the children in Salem."

"That's a big no no." Kali muttered. 

"But, since my parents didn't kill them last time..." 

"Your parents really did go up against the Sanderson sisters then, didn't they?" Jasmine murmured. 

"Stop interrupting!" I whisper yelled. Elijah noticed and started walking toward us. Zechariah pinched me and I kicked him in the shins back. "Okay, Jasmine, you and I will go to your house and take pictures of the spell book, print them out and rebind them. Zechariah and Kali distract ghosty dude while we get to my car. It's out back by the seafood place, can't miss it. Make sure Mika, Naomi, Jordan, and Been get home safe. I'm outta here." I grabbed Jasmine's hand right as Elijah walked over, and we skirted out of there. As we dodged backstage, I heard Zechariah asking Elijah a question something along the lines of why was Emily a teen and not like 8. 

Backstage, the other four band members were waiting. Mika was on base, Naomi had drums, and Jordan and Been did stage crew, sound check, lights make up, backing vocals, and or acoustic/keyboard or ukulele when needed. All four looked at us weird as we ran toward the back stairs. 

"Gigs over!" Jasmine yelled. "Everyone left, head home guys." We practically jumped down the stairs, hit the ground running, and then sprinted the rest of the way to my car. I hopped on the driver's side, Jasmine the passenger, and we went screaming toward Jasmine's apartment a few blocks away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you @Thora_Binx for pointing out I was spelling the name Dennison wrong! Other than that, I have an announcement. 
> 
> I am going out of town on Saturday and will be gone for probably a week, but since I'm technically missing school I'll have my laptop with me, but I'm not sure if I'll get a chance to update. Would ya'll like an update Friday, so then like, if I do get a chance to update next week it's like, a bonus update? I do have enough done to do this, and I'm thinking I'll get maybe another shorter chapter finished before I leave this week. 
> 
> Like always reviews and critic always appreciated and encourage. I'm planning on putting up a shorter novella type story here soon that falls under Dukes of Hazzard, plus I have an inspired by story and my own Star Wars story that I am gonna start a manuscript of here soon, so if you're into star wars then stay tuned.


	10. “...Call it Kidnapping…”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel POV

"Let... me... down...." I muttered, looking down over the city as well flew over it and toward the harbor. "... Please" Winifred, who was riding on her broom about 3 feet in front of me and carrying me via magic, looked back with a smile and a snicker. 

"Don't get your knickers in a twist, we'll be home soon!" Sarah flew up besides me, and with an out of place smile, reached out from her broom toward my hair, which was blowing wildly in the wind, and began toying with it. She began curling it around her finger, licking her lips, and tracing her fingers over my face. 

"Oh Winni, just let me play with him, only a little, please? Just until we get your spell book back?" Winnifred turned around and gave Sarah a disgusted look, and her face read "I've told you this about a million times before, but I'll say it again." 

"No Sister Sarah! Do you not realize, that this... boy! He is the key to our eternal life! To keep us young and beautiful forever! Do not toy with him!" Winifred slowed down just enough to be even with Sarah and slap her hand away from my face. "Do. Not. Touch. Him."

Pouting, Sarah sank a little ways and slowed up, letting her other two sisters pass her up, then continued in the back of the pack. I watched as they passed over the bay, and a little ways ahead I could see the beginning of the woods, and knew that we were nearing the Sanderson house. Nerves began to twist and knot up in my gut. 

"Sister!" Mary yelled over the wind, flying up and over me while I grimaced in pain and clutched my stomach, eyes shut tight through the pain. Winifred paused but let Mary pull up on her left. 

"Yes sister," She said in her shrill voice, not even attempting to hide the sarcasm. 

"Well, Wini, I was only wondering... but can we even kill him? You know they will not give you the book willingly, and even if they did, we may not have enough time to brew! And don't you tell me you're going to actually let him go!" Winifred let out a long sigh as we began to descend. 

"Mary, you buffoon! Of course I will not be giving him back! We need him to keep us young and beautiful forever you nitwit! And as for his family..." Winifred as we landed, Winifred whispered something that I could barely hear, "They'll bring the book, and when they do..." Winifred waited, attempting to let Mary finish the sentence. 

"Sick em'!" Mary shouted estatically. "Oh, I love it!" None of the witches were even attempting to hide their voices and keep me from hearing, they simply didn't care.   
"Now sisters!" Winifred set me on the ground, no longer keeping me restrained through magic. "Take him inside! Get the boy ready! He will be our ticket to eternal youth!" Sarah and Mary both ran at me and grabbed my arms, forcing me up the stairs and into the house, while I tripped over the stairs, bowing floorboards, and the edge of the counter. 

The witches forced me to sit in the chair by the fire, then tied my hands to the chair and tied my feet together. When Winifred sent Mary to get a gag, Sarah began playing with my hair again. I hit the roof, and yanked my head and entire body away, hard. Hard enough that I scotted the chair a good few inches, maybe even half a foot. 

"You hags!" I spat, trying to be brave, "It doesn't matter what you do, my family will never give you the book back! And you know that you won't kill me! So come dawn, I'll be able to walk out of this house and to freedom, while you return to dust forever!" Winifred turned to me, holding the gag Mary had brought. She had a ginormous smile plastered to her face, and my heart sunk. 

"You," Winifred said, smirking, and trying to hold back a laugh. "Go free? Aahaha! Sisters, did you hear him? Him, go free?" All three of the Sanderson sisters began laughing maniacally, evilly. My heart sunk even more as Winifred leaned in and whispered something into my ear. "You will not be leaving this house alive, one way or another." When she pulled away, I stared up at her, my mouth hanging wide open. She quickly shoved the gag in my mouth and began tieing it. I tried to fight back, but even as I yanked at the restraints, Sarah and Mary were holding me down. Once Winifred tied the gag, she shoved a hood over my face, and blocked my vision. I heard more laughing, and then Winifred spoke. 

"Come sisters, let us prepare for our guests. When they bring the book, we shall have our youth and beauty!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry I just realized how short this is.   
> Anyway, I'm starting to bring out elements I think would work with the story and would be accurate if this was real, but couldn't have been in a PG rated film during 1993. From here on out things are gonna get a little weird, even by Hocus Pocus standards.   
> Okay, so here's what's happening. I'm updating my stories now, so that even if I can't update next week, then I'll only have like 2 days between updates rather than like, a week and a half.  
>  I am working on another fanfiction from a fandom over a decade older than this that I should have up in within a month or two, I just wanna get a bunch of chapters put together before I put it out. It's going to have a lot of supernatural influences that weren't in the original property as well as it's gonna cross over with X-Men... so it's just gonna be nuts.  
> In that same fandom category I'm going to do a rewrite from the original media property, like a portion of it. Right now I'm in the "inserting the correct lines from the og" and the "edit and add" phase, so I'll hopefully have a third fic up before to much longer! Because it's about a relatively short piece of media I'll be doing some weird chapter break ups that I haven't quiet figured it out yet. A hint at the fandom: tv show that ran from 1979-1985. If you have a guess let me know and I'll either confirm or deny.   
> In the future, I hope to have a Star Wars book up, but right now I'm experimenting with the writing style of that one, so I have no timeline on when it's going to be put up or how the update schedule will work.   
> Critiques and criticism always welcome. Anyway, thanks for listening to ma Ted Talk and thanks for readin'!


	11. Runnin', Runnin', Runnin', see him Runnin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zecheriah POV

"So, why are ya’ll even here?" Elijah was taken aback, and so was Emily, placing a hand on her chest. 

"Why, dost thou know not of our ways?" I looked at her, trying to silently tell her that I wasn't dead and didn't plan on it anytime soon. Kali was giving her the look. 

"We're not dead," He spat. "And we would prefer to keep it that way!"Elijah walked right up to him, got in his face, and started yelling at him. 

"How dare thee disrespect thine elders! You snobby, slug worthy, diabolical hobbler! Why... thou shouldst be taught etiquette!" His little rant was gaining the attention of the adults in the room, AKA The Dennisons, Jackie's Aunt, and Thackeray's little posey. "But nay! Thou are "to righteous" for etiquette! Can the children of this new world not respect thine elders and thy selves!!!" 

"Get over yourself man!" I yelled, running off backstage, followed by Kali. 

"Get outta here man!" Kali yelled, pushing my back and urging me on. "I hear him behind us!" When he stopped talking, I heard footsteps from Elijah. Then, once we reached the bottom of the stairs, he started yelling at us again. 

"You naves! A curse on you!" 

"Run!" Kali said in unison with me. We busted out the back door and then ran through the alley to the front of the building, getting on the sidewalk and stopping at the front doors. 

"What do we do now!?" Kali was gasping for breath, hands on his knees, panting. I put my hands over my head and tried to catch my breath. "My... car is... a couple blocks... that way!" I pointed to my left, toward the end of the downtown area. "I came in after the dance started, so I got a crappy parking spot outside the antique mall." 

"Have at thee naves!" Elijah screamed, coming through the corner of the building and running at us, fists at the ready. Kali screeched like a wild animal in distress. I grabbed his arm and started running, going straight through Elijah, and continuing down the street toward my car. Elijah continued to follow us down the street, running and yelling insults and curses and such. 

"Stop, you fiends! Turn back and face thine enemies head on! Stop, you villians!" Kali slowed up a little bit and looked back, dragging me down with him. Elijah actually seemed to have gained, and was holding his hands in fists, ready to hit us. 

"Keep running!" Kali yelled, grabbing my hand and yanking me forward, heading toward the street. A couple of cars went flying through the stop signs, probably Jake and Iggy and their gang, but the intersection was clear. We ran straight through the intersection and hit the ground running on the other side, not slowing down.   
When I looked back Elijah was still gaining, by Mr. Dennison, Thackeray, and Thackeray's dad, the Jethro guy, were running after him, yelling at him to calm down and stop chasing us. 

"Elijah!" Thackeray yelled, running faster than both of the older men. "Stop! I beg of thee to reconsider! Thou wouldst not harm a lad!?" Kali glanced back when I turned around, then looked at me in disbelief. 

"That other young dude is catching up!" I glanced back with him, and true to his word, Thackeray was catching up to Elijah, but not as fast as he was catching up to us. 

"The maniac is gonna catch us before Thackeray catches him!" I yelled. About then, I heard tires screech and saw a gray minivan and a pink Beetle speeding toward us on the wrong side of the street, our side. Driving the cars were Mrs. Dennison and the Aunt. As they caught up with us, Mrs. Dennison rolled down her van window. 

"Get through the intersection quickly! We'll cut him off so you can get out of here and get to Jackie, go!" I nodded, and Kali started speeding up as we hit the next intersection. Just as we reached it, an old maroon Mustang went speeding through the intersection. We came to a dead stop as a blue Corvette went shooting through the intersection, with a silver SUV following right on his tail. And behind that were several more cars, all manned by the maximum occupancy of the cars. 

"Go around!" I yelled, pulling Kali behind me and pulling a left. We could hear Elijah's foot falls catching up to us extremely quickly. 

"He's gaining again!!" Kali yelled. 

"I know!" I panted, watching as the line of cars seemed to stretch on for ages. "I'm more worried about the physics behind us hearing the footfalls." We watched in horror as Elijah gained and was right on top of us. 

"Subsisto diebus meis!" From out of Jethro guys hands, a yellow whip like thing came out and wrapped itself around Elijah. Once it had wrapped a couple of times, Elijah began moving backwards, even though he was still running, arms pinned to his sides. Jethro, Thackeray, and Mr. Dennison kept running toward Elijah, yelling for him to stop. "Elijah, please stop fighting it! Do not chase these boys..." 

"These fools art men!" Elijah screamed, flopping at the restraints trying to get out. "These men art cowards, doth they have even an ounce of courage in thine bones?" I watched a red Corvette, a green lemon, and a silver Camry go flying through the intersection, then it cleared. 

"Run!" Mrs. Dennison yelled to us. I looked at Kali and without hesitation we went sprinting across the intersection and down the sidewalk, no longer holding hands. Elijah was screaming about our being cowards in the background. One last glance back showed Jethro and Thackeray restraining Elijah while Mr. Dennison, Mrs. Dennison, and Daniel’s Aunt standing together near the gray minivan. After that, we kept running till the end of the block, and there was my car, standing right there with a broken window. 

"Those damn jocks!" I yelled, running to the window. "They musta busted the window out!" I unlocked the car. "Whatever, get in." Kali did what he was told and hopped in the passenger side as I started the car. 

"Where are we going?" I pulled onto the road and pulled a uee in the middle of the street and headed to the intersection, hanging a hard left toward the Sisters   
Apartment complex. 

"Jasmine's apartment, that's where the two girls will be, from there we can figure what the hell the plan is and how to fix it." Kali looked at me in a skeptic way, and I sighed. "I let out the Sanderson sisters and they just kidnapped Daniel Dennison." Kali chuckled. 

"Nice joke, where are the girls really?" I looked at him, trying to convey my seriousness as best I could. Kali's smile fell. "You're serious?" 

"Yup," I said, taking the next right. "They're taking pictures of the spell book right now, hoping to use it against the sisters." 

We walked into the apartment since the door was open wide. Jasmine's parents were often out of town for business but there was nobody in sight. Once inside, we started looking around. The living room, kitchen, and first room turned up empty. It was the office where the two girls were. The floor was covered in paper and the spell book was open in Jackie's lap, and she held her phone over the book, taking pictures. At about the same time she did Jasmine took the same picture and printed it out, then laid it in a pile that was slowly spreading all over the floor. 

"So, what's the plan?" I asked, leaning against the door frame. Jackie jumped a little bit, but looked up at me, dropping the phone onto the book. She was sitting with her legs in a W, and Jasmine was sitting in the office chair next to her, within arms reach of the printer. 

"We kick Sanderson Sister ass." Jackie sounded upset but also, kind of happy, kiddy even. "Here's the plan..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The title seems a little out of place, I know, but it is pulled from a Jonah (biblical figure who got swallowed by a whale) themed musical I did back in like, 5th grade. The one song all of us older kids had to just sing runnin' over and over again. It was annoying, and I was in a trench coat. That's about all I remember. 
> 
> Anyways sorry for the late update. I'm planning on having that Dukes of Hazzard Story up next week, same update schedule as the rest of these. Digital cookies for Thora Birch for guessing the tv show.


	12. Bookies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jackie POV

"Okay, so explain the plan here again." Jasmine closed the door to her parent's office, then turned to face me. She wasn't happy about me for kinda sorta kidnapping her and forcing her to help me.

"So, moral of the story is that the Sanderson sisters are real and Zechariah brought them back. My brother's been taken by the witches, and the only way to get him back from them is to give them back the spell book. So, to beat them," I laid the spell book down on the desk in front of us and tapped it. "I need every spell in here. We give it back to them, but we have a spell or potion waiting for them. As soon as they take it, we take them out, get Daniel back, and ride into the majestic sunrise and live happily ever after." I looked Jasmine straight in the eyes. "Any questions?" Jasmine raised a single hand, and I rolled my eyes with a huff but nodded. "Yes?"

"What the hell is going on here?"

“Cool, get to work on this.” I lobbed the book at Jasmine and she groaned, catching it then immediately dropping it with a thump onto the beige carpet floor. 

“That feels weird.” 

“It’s bound in human skin.” I walked over to the right of the window, next to the desk, and started the printer to Jasmine's dry heaving gags. 

“Gross! You expect me to do the grunt work?”

“Fine, give it here!” I moved over to her, picked up the book, and sat down on the floor. Jasmine gagged once more for good measure, then moved over to the printer.

“Hey,” Jasmine was quiet as she screwed around with the printer's settings. I flipped open the book, took a picture of the first page, then sent it to Jasmine's email. 

“Hold on for a sec. I just sent the first pic to your email. Get it printing. Please.” I added, a little rushed and flustered. Jasmine nodded, running out of the room quickly, then reappearing a moment later with a black laptop. She took a seat in the white desk chair, propped the laptop up in her lap, and went ahead with the printing. I was a few pages a head of her, which ended up working out great as she printed the first page. 

Our system was nearly perfect. Pic, send, print, stack. The Sanderson book was so freaking long though! I had to stop myself multiple times as I got caught up reading and Jasmine had no more pages to print. The first time, she just tidied up the pile, but after the second time, I kind of got the vibe that she just wanted me to hurry the hello up and get it done. 

“Do you really think this is gonna work?” Jasmine asked after a particularly long silent lull. I shrugged, taking another picture and sending it to her. 

“I don’t. But I think if one of us learns the spells, they could work. At least, if Winnifred doesn’t have the only copy, we might have a chance at getting her back.”   
Jasmine was silent for a moment, as was I. The only sound was the printer wiring away, having a field day printing out pages for us, that and Jasmine as she clicked her mouse, dragging it across the trackpad and placing the paper on one of the many, many piles. The book, in addition to being bound in human skin (which I really, really tried not to think about) was also getting longer by the minute. Maybe that was all part of the magic: there was more in it than met the eye. Still, after about the four hundredth picture or something it was getting a little ridiculous. 

“You have to be close to done.” Jasmine said begrudgingly. 

“Not even close.” I replied, taking another picture and sending it to her email. After taking another one, I sent her the email, then started a new one. “I just sent you like, 20 more. Get to work baby.” 

“This is borderline child abuse.” 

“Yeah, whatever.” Suddenly, there was a loud thud as the door to the study burst open and in came the boys. Zechariah dropped to my right side immediately and Kali stood in the doorway, observing. 

“What’s going on?” He asked, clutching my arm. 

I shrugged him off. “I’m taking pictures and Jazz is printing them out. But this stage makeup is really starting to get to me.” 

“I’ll take over!” Zechariah said a little too eagerly. I handed him the phone while giving him the explanation. 

“Pic, send, print, and stack.” I stood up, rubbing my hands on the custom black skeleton pants. “Kali, if you want something to do, get to work on double checking the pages. Just restack ‘em nice or somethin’ like that.” As I passed him, he grunted, but then went into the office and closed the door, leaving me in the dimly lit apartment. Quickly and quietly, I sprinted to my left and entered the last door on the left, the bathroom. Modern by the day's standards, I grabbed a towel from the towel rack on the wall near the light switch and the door, wet it, and began scrubbing the freaking stage makeup off. 

After finishing that job, I threw the towel in the sink and examined my handiwork. There was still a bit of white around the edge and some black around my hairline, and maybe some paint up my nose, but other than that, I was looking pretty good. With that, I returned to the office. 

I don’t know exactly what I was expecting to find, but Kali and Jazz making out while Zechariah just snapped pictures was definitely not on the list. 

“Holy guacamole.” I murmured. Zechariah looked up at me and smirked, then motioned for me to head to the printer and start printing the pages he was emailing to Jazz’s computer. I obliged without even asking questions. As I took up a position just in front of the chair Jazz was sitting in, she pulled out of her kiss. “So how long has that been hidden?” 

She giggled. “A little bit.” 

“You always loved him?” She giggled again. 

“Yeah, but it hasn’t been public. His parents weren’t exactly on board with it.” 

“Well,” I said, hitting the print button for the next batch of pages. “They’re obviously about to be forced to.” I felt happy for her, but also a twinge of jealousy crept in, and then some envy, and finally, despair. Would I ever find someone who loved me? Probably not. Oh well, nothing to dwell on. I took the next batch of papers off about half way through, and Zechariah kept sending them. “Could someone go get some more printer paper? This thing is bound to run out here soon.” 

“On it!” Kali declared, running out the open door and then down the hall to the right. Jasmine smiled, and with a small chuckle got up to follow him. 

“He’s going the wrong way. Printer paper is in the closet in the corner.” She pointed to a black storage deal catty corner to where the computer desk was. With a nod, I got up and headed over while she exited the room. 

“How many pages have we got left?” I asked Zech as I passed him. 

“A lot. But I’m just gonna spam pic and send them to you once I get done.” 

“Cool.” I replied. I figured that the arrangement would be mutually beneficial. He’d get done quicker and then I’d be able to mass print. “We’re gonna have to make this quick.” I glanced at the clock on the computer, which read 11:57 p.m. It was almost November 1st. 

“We’re…” I stopped, trying to get my own thoughts into a coherent line. This was gonna be hard to say. “We’re gonna have to have a quick turn around. The sisters are bound to get impatient within a couple of hours, so lets say 2 a.m. We don’t know what the qualification for this kinda magical shat is, and we just can’t give this back to the sisters, they’re gonna kill Daniel no two ways about it, unless we do something.” 

“What about that Jethro guy?” Zechariah looked up from my phone for a moment. “He used some sort of weird magic to heal you, and he held back that crazy dude that came with him with some magic yellow rope deal.” 

“That sounds like he could use the book.” I spun the chair around and wasn’t surprised to see the love birds hanging around right in the doorway, watching us, both holding some sort of snack food. “Figured we could use some snacks.” I smiled, accepting the open bag of Taki’s from Jazz as she hit the floor cross legged. “So what’s the plan?” 

“Right now?” I asked, biting the end off a Taki, smiling as my mouth was consumed by fire. “Get this finished, and then get our spell book the Jethro. We have to get done soon and find my parents.” 

“Tell you what,” Kali said, biting out of an apple of all things. “I’ll stay here with Zechariah and finish up the spell book. You two could head out a look for her parents and those weirdos that followed you.” 

“On that note, how about you two hang out here?” Zechariah chimed in, cheerful as ever. “We'll go find the crazies and Jackie's parents, get a plan together and then get the book.” 

“Sounds good. We’ll call you when it’s done.” Jasmine moved toward the seat, which I gladly vacated whilst stealing the bag of Takis. 

“Or we’ll call you. I need my phone back.” Zechariah stood up and threw my phone to me as he walked out the door. 

“Send me the pics on the phone.” 

“Deal!” I shouted, back peddling out the door and into the wall of the hallway. After which I proceeded to leave the apartment and travel down the stairs 2 stories to the main floor, where Zechariah was waiting in his car… with a busted out window. 

“What’s with the window?” Zechariah shrugged. 

“Just get in.” I obliged, heading to the side without a broken window and sitting down. He backed out right quick and then screeched down the abandoned main street. “What's the plan?” He asked. 

“Drop me off at my house, then you head to the cemetery. Or stop at the cemetery and I’ll walk home. I dunno. Whichever one comes first.”

“Yeah, I’ll just drop you off at your house.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so new chapter. I've taken a slight break on the actual manuscript for this, but that won't effect the updates I promise, I was working on getting the chapters already for my newest fiction. I have a little bit left on that one before I can put it up here but I promise it'll be up by the end of today.


	13. Eavesdropping

I woke up a little later, but this time I couldn’t sleep. After trying forever I went downstairs to find Grandma and Grandpa, and they let me turn on a movie. When I did, the tv said it was 11 o’clock. Right after it started, mom, dad, and Aunt Dani came home, but they didn’t want to talk to me. Only Aunt Dani gave me a hug. But after they went upstairs, Grandma Jenny brought a bowl of popcorn for the movie. 

Just when I was getting to the good part in Moana, Jackie came in the back door, slammed it, and came toward me. 

“Are mom and dad home?” Grandma snored right after Jackie asked and I laughed. 

“Upstairs.” 

“Where’s grandpa?” 

“He went to Mimi and Papa's house.” Jackie rolled her eyes and then went upstairs, slamming whatever door she went in. I continued watching my movie, but it was kind of boring and I wanted to know what everyone else was doing. So, quietly, I wiggled out from under grandma Jenny’s blanket, and worm crawled a little ways and then got up. I snuck up the stairs, taking a big step to avoid the creaky one at the top, then tip toed toward mom and dad’s room at the end of the hall. 

“You’re doing what?” Daddy screamed, and I could hear it without even trying. It scared me, but I wanted to know what they were doing, so I put my ear up against the door and listened, being super quiet and trying to hold my breath. 

“We have a lot of the book copied. I think we can get it completely copied and reprinted. I wanna give it to that Jethro guy. Maybe he can use it.” 

“We have to do something or else Winifred's going to kill Daniel.” 

“I know Allison, I know. But I’m more worried about why you even got that book in the first place, Jackie.” 

“It was a bet at school, I already told you!” 

“Come on Max, give her a break! You were the one to light the candle and take the book last time.” 

“Dani, stay out of this.” 

“No way! I was in it last time, I’m in it this time!” 

“What’s with that Jethro guy and his magic?” Suddenly, I felt like I had to sneeze, and I did. Everyone on the other side of the door stopped talking, and it got really quiet. 

Suddenly, the door opened, and mommy stood there, looking at me with a smile. “Oh, Billy-Jo! You’re supposed to be downstairs!” 

“Grandma is asleep.” I said, moving back a little bit. Mommy came out of the room and closed the door behind her. “The movie’s almost over.” Mommy got down on her knees and looked at me in my eyes. 

“Well then. You’ve seen it. Why don’t you try going to bed now?” I felt sad, but I wanted to be a big girl so I nodded, and mom stood up. Then, she let her arm down so I could grab her hand, and slowly we started to walk down to the last door on the other end. 

We got a little ways before mom's bedroom door opened and Jackie came out, running to the room before mom got there with me. Once we got in, Jackie had already changed her clothes, back to what she was wearing earlier. “Hey, Kali just texted me. The book is done and the last of the pages are being sent to the printer. I’m gonna go get them and head to the cemetery. Love you.” 

“Love you.” Mommy gave Jackie a kiss on the cheek as she left, carrying a lanyard with her keys and a black backpack. 

“Where’s Jackie going mommy?” I started to go up the steps to the steeple where I slept, and mom stopped after going up a few steps. 

“She’s gotta go get something honey. She’ll be back soon.” I got up to my bed in the window and laid down, while mommy got up there and tucked me in with all my big blankets. “Where’s Emily?” 

“Downstairs.” Suddenly, Emily jumped up on the bed and laid down on my stomach. It was funny, so I laughed, and mom did too. Then she leaned in and kissed my cheek. When I saw her face again, she was crying, a little tear went down her cheek. 

“Mommy, you’re crying.” Mommy sniffled and wiped away the tear with the sleeve of her sweater. 

“No, I'm not baby. It’s okay. Just go to sleep.” Mommy stood up and went down the stairs, turning on the night light on Jackie's night stand, then closing the door. It was quiet, and Emily didn’t even purr, her tail twirling around in the moonlight from the window. I heard a car start, then I heard it again as it sped up and then it was quiet.

It was pretty, and soon my eyes got heavy and I got sleepy, but I didn’t want to sleep. But I started to dream. It was weird. I ate a little candy crow, then heard a pretty lady singing, and I wanted to follow it, so I did. I followed the song to a house in the woods, and there were three ladies there, and two were ugly. Daniel was in the house, but he was tied to a chair by the fire. But all I heard was the pretty ladies singing. 


	14. Magical Mayhem

“Elijah, Elijah, calm down!” Thackery demanded, holding the young man's hands behind his back while he was on the ground and his father worked to release the magical restraints on his wrists and ankles. Max stood over them, wearing his Mr. Incredible costume, staring in awe. 

“Did not see that coming.” Farther ahead, Allison and Dani drove down the street, trying to cut off the peanut gallery parade before they cut off the boys again. 

“Elijah, compose thyself!” Jethro demanded. The four men were finally all standing up, with Elijah rubbing his sore wrists. 

“My apologies sir.” He murmured. Thackeray placed a hand on the man's shoulder and Max watched, trying to compute. Finally realizing that they were being stared at, Thackeray turned to address him. 

“Max. Would thou care to reconvene in town hall?” 

“Yeah..” Max stuttered. “Yeah, sure. Sounds good.” With a smile, Thackery took the lead and made his way back to town hall, followed by Max, and then Elijah and finally Jethro, who followed very hesitantly. After ascending the stairs, they reconvened with Hester Binx while Emily stood off to the side, observing. 

“I do believe we have yet to make acquaintances,” Jethro said, holding his right hand out to Max while his left held the break line in his coat. 

He took it. “Max Dennison.” Hester nodded toward him, and Max held out his hand in return. Taken aback, she looked to Jethro, who looked equally baffled. Max shrugged and drew his hand back to his side. As the awkward silence ensued, Max’s eyes darted about and landed on Emily. “Is that your sister?” Thackeray whirled around, glanced at her, then whirled around to face Max. 

“Oh, yes. Tis my sister, Emily.” Max offered a small wave, one which Emily returned tentatively. 

“What should we do?” Max asked. “What do you think we should do Binx?” Thackeray took a more lax stance, similar to the one Max was in, with one hip popped out a little bit, arms crossed with one hand on his chin and his thumb resting on the outer part of his lip. His father offered nothing more than a perplexed look and his mother looked down at the floor, inspecting it. 

“We have to stop the sisters. The only way we can do that is wait them out until sunrise.” 

“Yeah, but they’ve got my son, and we waited them out last time, and now they’re back.” 

“Yes, but, we have an asset.” 

“Thackery,” His father cut in. “I wish to speak with thee.” 

“That’s fine.” Max retorted, a little sore. “I’m going to go to my house. Thackeray, you know where that’s at. I need to speak with my wife and my sister. Meet me there. Or… actually, I’ll meet you at the cemetery in 30 minutes.” 

“Sounds good!” Thackeray yelled after Max. Then turning to his parents, he began again. “We must make our way to the cemetery. Please, might I speak with thee on the way?” 

“Thackeray, I hath much more to do than simply speak with thee.” 

* * *

Max was a little more than frazzled as he waited for Allison to pick up her diggity darn phone. “Max?” 

“Alli, is there any chance you can come pick me up by town hall?” 

“Yeah, just give me a sec.” 

“Okay. We need to head home and work this all out. I told Thackeray that we’d meet his group at the cemetery in 30 minutes. So at..” Max opened up the phone and glanced at the time, then hit the speakerphone button. “12:27 a.m.” 

“Call Dani and tell her the plan, okay? I see you.” Max looked to his right, then looked over to his left and saw the ugly brownish minivan speeding toward him.

“Okay, See you soon.” A couple of seconds after he hung up, Allison brought the van to a screeching halt right in front of him. As she rolled down the window, he smirked. 

“Get in punk, time to go kill some witches.” Max attempted to stifle a chuckle, but that only succeeded in turning it to a chortle. 

“Okay,” He ducked into the passenger seat and slammed the door, which sent Allison’s foot to the gas before he even touched the seatbelt. The car jerked forward and Max solicited a small yelp, which brought a smile to Allison's face and now it was her turn to chuckle. There was a click from Max’s right and a glare on his left, felling Allison's smile. The mood in the car was sobering and somber. The weight they had carried that Halloween night 25 years was back, but weighed even heavier now, whether from their age or the added load of their child being taken by the witches, or maybe the fact that two of their children were now entwined in the little conspiracy. 

And with that pleasant thought, Max called Dani, briefed her, and told her to head to his house. She had promised to, and Max got hung up on a split second later. It wasn’t a long drive to their home, maybe 5 or 10 minutes at the speed Allison was currently using, but with the silence the road seemed to drag on, and on, and on. 

“I can’t believe they’re back.” Broke the silence. The sentiment did not depart her lips unnoticed, and Max turned toward her, his face riddled with lines and his brow furrowed. 

“I can’t believe the kids did something so stupid.” Allison only let a small smile cross her lips, but in the split second the lovers met eyes, there was a spark in hers that was both worried yet excited. Max’s eyes held fury, worry, and a sentiment that only those who have cared for children for an extended period of time can comprehend. Unconditional love. 

“We were kids once too. We made mistakes, and they nearly cost a lot of people their lives.” Max instinctively looked over his shoulder behind them, checking the suburban road for witches. “But this is so much worse. They lit the black flame candle, used the book, opened a portal to the afterlife, and now Daniel’s been captured.” 

“The stakes weren’t this high our first time around.” Allison mused. 

The car jumped a little as it breached the curb and pulled into the Dennison's driveway, behind the eccentric pink car belonging to one Danielle Dennison. The Incredi-couple disembarked from the not so Incredimobile, and made their way to the oh so incredible back door. Upon entering their abode, they found Max’s mother asleep on the couch under a weighted blanket, Emily curled up under part of said blanket with a half eaten bowl of popcorn, and Dani curled up next to her, changed from her costume into one of Max’s t-shirts and the leggings she had on underneath her Colonial-era garbs. 

“Oh, hey!” Dani jumped up, brushing popcorn from the folds in the shirt onto the floor to join it’s brethren within the carpet, much to Max’s evident disapproval. 

“Upstairs,” came from Max’s mouth, but without much bravado. The three adults made their way to the upper level, then into the third door on the left, the master bedroom. The two women entered first, followed by a very tentative Max. With one final glance around the door for danger or eavesdroppers, he shut it quietly, handle turned to muffle its telltale click. 

“So, what’s the plan?” The words left Allison's mouth without preamble, striking Max dumbfounded and derailing his train of thought. 

“Huh, well…” He mumbled about the words. “I uh, I don’t know exactly what to do.” 

“I thought we did this already, like, 25 years ago?” Dani, although dressed casually, was in no such mood, and had come for action, not for planning. She’d been like that since childhood, Max mused. Headstrong, always rushing in, but kind. 

“We did, but now it’s our kids turn, apparently.” Allison retorted, evidently annoyed, but her façade did not betray her, rather, it was her voice. There was an ensuing silence, a rather deafening one at that, broken only by the Moana soundtrack filtering up from the living room below. “Besides, I think we have a problem.” 

“What’s that?” Dani quizzed. She moved a bit, taking a few near silent steps and backing against the wall just between the closet and door, a space that fit her like a glove. 

“What we did last time didn’t stop them.” 

“Meaning?” 

Allison shot her oh so clueless husband a dagger eyed look. “Meaning, Max, that waiting them out didn’t work last time. So we’re back to square one, unless we want this to happen again next time there’s a full moon on Halloween, of course.” 

There was suddenly a hollow knocking sound, emanating from the door Dani stood nearest. She stood straight and the door slipped open, letting in the slimmest ray of light at first, before it abruptly opened near fully to reveal Jackie standing before them. She still wore the black slacks and black blouse she had painted a skeleton to, and the black dress shoes she had pilfered from her mother, but her face full of skeletal makeup had been nearly completely removed. All that remained were a few small patches and the rim of her face still was colored black and white. 

“What are you doing here?” Max demanded of his daughter. She offered no distinguishable expression, save the grunt as she stepped on a squeaky board. 

“Resupplying to take down the witchy biches.” 

“You’re doing what?” Max’s vehement scream must have reached every ear in the house, and most definitely reached the ears of both his daughters, the one within and the one without the room. The three women in the room recoiled quickly at the scream, but Jackie soon uncoiled, her face steeled and posture straight and stiff as a board.

“We have a lot of the book copied. I think we can get it completely copied and reprinted. I wanna give it to that Jethro guy. Maybe he can use it?” Max crossed his arms in the most indignant of manners, grasping for something to say to his disobedient offspring. That was before Allison cut in however, with her own opinion. 

“We have to do something or else Winifred’s going to kill Daniel.” 

Max’s wits returned to him at that moment, and he came back at both his wife and his daughter. “I know Allison, I know. But I’m more worried about why you even got that book in the first place, Jackie.” The mentioned party gifted her parents a glare of death as they came together, with her father wrapping his arm protectively about her mother. 

“It was a bet at school, I already told you!” 

“Come on Max, give her a break! You were the one to light the candle and take the book last time.” Her aunt stepped in protectively, placing her right side between her niece and her older brother. Although she looked up to him, now was not a time in which she wished to look up to him. Now was a moment in which she only wished she could look down upon the moron of a sibling she had been gifted to at her birth. 

“Dani, stay out of this.” Max attempted to shrug the young woman off, but she responded in rebellious stride. 

“No way! I was in it last time, I’m in it this time!” For a moment, silence fell upon them, one so deafening it weighed upon them as dirt upon a sealed coffin. The pressure only increased with each ticking second, each another second they wasted in their efforts to free their son, brother, and nephew. Each a second in which the witches could kill Daniel. Each a second in which…

“What’s with that Jethro guy and his magic?” Max had spoken, but as soon as the words left his lips, a small sneeze flew around the door and to their ears, causing a panicked silence to fall. Allison made her way to the door in haste, opening it and stepping out. She almost immediately began speaking with her youngest child in a last ditch bid to bring her around for bed. When the door closed, Jackie’s phone went off, the glow illuminating in her pocket. The teen withdrew the device from her back pocket and held it close to her face, her brow furrowed in concentration, her eyes set on its words. 

“They have to book nearly done, just printing the last pages. I’m gonna go get it.” Jackie replaced the phone within her pocket and made headway toward the door, placing her hand on the knob before she could bring herself to turn back and address her father. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Was all the man could croak by. As the teen left, Max could hold it in no longer, and delved into a coughing fit. 

“They still don’t know, do they?” Dani placed her hand against his back, as if she could send the compassion and healing she held within her to him through the physical connection. 

“No,” Max began to straighten again, but doubled over with a final set of hacking coughs. “And they don’t need to. I’ve got a while yet, I’m just a little sick. I don’t have too many gray hairs yet, now do I?” Dani solicited a small laugh, if only to try and comfort her brother. She could see the signs, perhaps even better than he could see them. The premature graying of his hair, compounded with it prematurely thinning. The wrinkles and lines that seemed to come from nowhere, with no real reason for them to appear at his age. His worsening health and near chronic illnesses. Several times in the past two years she had dropped everything to come and stay with her nieces and nephew when her brother was rushed to one hospital after another. Sure, there had been questions, but nothing more than a scare here or there, maybe one or two actual medical issues that were discovered, but it was nothing serious. Nothing to worry the kids with. 

“Have you taken your meds yet?” 

“Not my night time ones, no.” Max responded, fully righting himself, and plodding his way to the bathroom, the pain in his chest radiating, but fading slowly. The floor boards offered an occasional creak or groan in protest under his weight, but the master of the house paid no head. His sister followed at a short distance, wishing to witness the coming phenomenon for herself. 

The bathroom light switch was flicked upwards, offering light in the otherwise dark room. Max pulled out from under the mirrors, opening the semi concealed cabinet, which held within his growing collection of medications, supplements, and other remedies. The cabinet best reflected the health of a much older man, one at least 20 years older than this man, the owner of these medications. Dani could not force the gasp to stay within her, and her brother responded with a small, sad smile across his weary lips. 

“I have a lot more doctors appointments coming up soon. More tests, more poking and prodding. I’m getting tired of it. I know what it is, Allison knows what it is, and I think we both know you know what this is too. But the doctors don’t. I’m older than I should be. My immune system is starting to go downhill, I take more medications than our parents.” 

“I know,” Dani whispered, as if that could hide the truth any longer. “I know what caused this. I just, seeing the potential for it to happen to one of the kids…” Tears came to Dani’s eyes and she gasped for breath, as if all that had been within her had been forced out, and the tears came. “It isn’t fair! You shouldn’t have to go through this!” Dani crumpled against the countertop, the cold stone chilling her skin, and reminding her of death. Death, death, death, it was everywhere, she could do nothing to avoid it. And oh, how she wished she could! 

A warm arm came around her, the one of her older brother, her protector. Even feeble as it may be, it was comforting and gave her strength as it had since she was a little girl, as it had the night they had first encountered the Sanderson sisters. 

“I don’t want to do this again Max. If we didn’t succeed last time, what can we do this time?” More tears spilled over the poor woman's lids, and her brother's thumb was there to try and wipe them all away, to try and bring happiness to his sister. His little sister. 

“Sh, sh, sh. It’s okay.” He continued to try and quiet her, to calm and comfort her, it was all he could do. Even he had no solution to the problem which they now faced. He could feel the regret welling up within him, replacing the pain in his chest with another type that was much more powerful, poignant, and lingering. “We will figure something out. We did it last time, and I have no doubt we can’t do it again.” 

* * *

“Thackeray, you as well as I know an explanation is owed of you for the events which transpired herein’ this night.” Thackeray nearly rolled his eyes, before reminding himself that his father had spent the last 325 years in the 1690’s, whilst he had traipsed throughout the country for 300 of those and watched it grow, and had grown with it. In fact, he was not quite sure his family was even aware that the land they had once called home was no longer in the possession of the British. The very cemetery they now stood in had not belonged to the British for around 240 years, if he estimated correctly. 

“I apologize father, and pray thee will listen to my tale. For ‘tis a long one, and one I may not finish before the time arrives.” He sucked in a long breath, one he did not need, as he was no longer living. Instead, it served as a point around which he could center himself before the coming dilemma’s and trials the night was sure to hold, and the many questions his company would surely ask of him. “As you are well aware, Emily was snatched up by those witches for her years, which they sought in their never ending search for everlasting youth and beauty. And as you are well aware, as I am certain Elijah forewarned you, twas as I instructed him to do, I went after my dearest sister, but was unsuccessful in saving her life, which was forfeit to the witches in their despicable brew. What thou doth not know father, mother, Elijah, tis that the sisters were not done with me, nay! They wished my punishment, of which I earned one by pouring out that Winnifred Sanderson's cauldron, to be more lingering, if those be the words I remember. And so, from that day forward I was trapped as a black cat, a beast of the earth. But tis not all, for I was cursed to live forever, to watch everything and everyone of which I held dear disappear into the dusts of history. Twas how I knew all of thigh’s fates, how I knew of your deaths in the massacre by the natives only a few short years after Emily’s untimely demise and my cursing.” 

“And so I have watched this country rise and fall and change. The world hath changed dramatically from the times in which you walked upon this earth last. Much, much has changed. So much have I witnessed, that I could not relay it all to you if I had a year. Nor if I had two years, and yet even if I had more than that, I could not relay it all, even if I only wished to tell you of the historically significant items and events of which I witnessed. But I wish to tell you this. Twas I that night father, the night on which you hung the Sanderson sisters. Twas I the cat that rubbed against thigh leg father, one of my first feeble attempts to contact those of whom were mortal.” Thackeray took several steps down the hill, seemingly cutting through a row of graves toward an unknown destination. His company simply stared at his in bewilderment, struck dumb by his description of the lands they had once lived within. “Come, I wish for you to see something.” 

And so they followed him a little ways, not much more than a hundred paces from where they had been previously. There in, Thackeray stood before a headstone, much less weathered than the ones which inhabited the portion of the graveyard in which they stood. On it was the inscription left by the Dennison’s shortly after their encounter with Thackeray. “Twas left by those who defeated the witches before. Twas they who allowed Winnifred's accursed magics to fall away and let me cross over and join you.” 

Again, the company of charges had fallen silent, but his father had fallen the most silent of them all. “Son…” 

The sentiment was barely started when a brash voice broke through the cold, still night. “Yo, is anyone out there?!” Breaking through the tree line and brush on the hill above them stood Zechariah, a flashlight in one hand and a shard of glass in his other. 

“Zechariah, down here!” Thackeray yelled up to the young man. Zechariah shone the flashlight atop them, temporarily blinding the young man's relatives and friend, all of whom had never known a flashlight before that moment. Upon locating them, Zechariah turned around and trekked a little ways up the hill, then turned to his right to relocate the path downward to their position. 

“Thack attack, hey.” The modern teen looked down on Thackeray, who was forced to step backwards to look up at the near man before him. “So, um. Yeah… uh. Jackie is gonna get here soon! Um, she went to go talk with her parents, who I think you know… and then she’s gonna go get the book and the copy of the book from Jazz. I think…” 

“Twas a pitiful speech lad.” Elijah called out. Even standing several paces beyond Mr. Binx, he was well aware of what was happening around him, and this was quite an annoyance for those in his company. 

“Eh whatever hater.” Zechariah was quick to draw with the comeback, leaving the colonials in a stupor. Among those was Thackeray. 

“What was that?” He quizzed. Zechariah offered nothing more than a sheepish smile, as if that could explain it. The young blonde then took a few steps downward, taking his place from among the headstones in the row below Thackeray’s 20th century monument. 

“It’s a saying. That’s all.” Thackeray offered a raised eyebrow in response, which fired something in Zechariahs brain, since he gaped suddenly for no real reason. “Oh… right! You guys are like, old as hell! I totally forgot that you haven’t been around for a while.” This once more conjured an outburst from Elijah; however, Mr. Binx quickly stifled it with a sharp glare over his shoulder. Immediately following the silenced outburst a buzz brought Zechariahs phone to life, as well as a text message from Jackie, which was swiftly opened by the recipient. After a momentary pause so as to fully comprehend the text, Zechariah shut the phone off and turned about 45 degrees so as to look up at Thackeray's family. 

“M’kay!” His yelling was unnecessary as it was dead silent and most of the adults in the town, if not all, had been scared away by the Binx family and Elijah upon their arrival at the town Halloween dance. “Jackie is gonna have Jazz pick her up, take her back to the apartment, grab the book and the copy they made, then she’ll walk back to town hall and get her car.” There was a secondary buzz, of which Zechariah responded immediately, pulling his phone from his coat pocket. 

Thackeray was still marveling at this new piece of technology that even he knew nothing off. It was so new… this must have been how his family and friend had felt upon stepping into the land of the living again. He was bewildered, yet curious, and overwhelmed. So overwhelmed. He felt almost as if he were drowning. He’d drowned once as a cat, that had not been pleasant, and this was nothing like that unpleasant experience, yet it was the best comparison he could find. 

“What is this device?” Thackeray reached toward Zechariah’s phone, and the young man yanked his hand back violently, half instinct and half concern. 

“Who dude, slow down.” There was a brief pause as Zechariah typed out a quick message, then sent it, and finally turned his phone off again for the 3rd time since his arrival in the graveyard. “It’s a cell phone. They had normal telephones back… when were you here last? 1995 or something?” 

“I believe it was 1993.” Thackeray remarked, that memory still clear as ever in his mind. That was one of the many… abilities, for lack of a better term, he had gained upon crossing over completely with Emily. Every memory he’d ever made or experience had been restored within him. He wasn’t exactly sure if it was a blessing or a curse, but he felt it was a bit of both at times. Whereas at most the villagers he resided with had maybe 70 years of memories to cope with, he had over 315 years. 

“Yeah, well, this is what phones are now. 25 years later.” He held out the phone to the ever more curious Thackeray. As the young man reached out cautiously to touch the strange contraption, the crunch of leaves revealed another soul was among them. This one was revealed to be Emily mere seconds after the leaves ceased crunching under her feet, as she had taken up a spot on Thackeray’s left side. 

“What tis it Thackeray?” 

“Tis some sort of technology, not unlike something by the same name I remember from my last years here on this plane. However, this is much… smaller. Tis much more refined.” 

“Yeah,” Zechariah radiated a giddy excitement, for this was the first time in recent memory someone had been enamored by his several out of date phone. He’d begged his parents for a phone, and all he’d had was a flip phone up until high school. That year, as a gangly freshman who fell over every 20 or so steps, he had been gifted an iPhone 5. Although it was already several years out of date, he had loved it, and his gratitude had only faded slightly to the day he was in. However, it was now quite an embarrassment now, what with the iPhone XR released only 2 weeks prior and all. His clunky little 5 was utterly obsolete, and he garnered much more than his fair share of insults and jokes. “It’s an iPhone 5. Pretty old, but it works pretty well I guess.” 

The phone sprung to life with the touch of a button, and both Binx’s were utterly amazed. Emily took in a breath that broke the silence around them, one Zechariah had not realized was about them until that very moment. 

The poor things screen was cracked, many of them running like spiderwebs about the surface. In addition, there were scratches, scrapes, buffs, and chips all over the body of the phone. His last case had recently failed and he had nearly saved up enough money to get last year's phone, and as such had elected to wait until he purchased it to purchase another case. “You can make calls, and you can send instant messages, which are kind of like email, but not nearly as formal. They’re called texts.” More leaves crunched underfoot as Zechariah continued his explanation, taking on the role of teacher quite naturally, with two willing pupils, and a third approaching rapidly. Elijah had begun to ponder the sound mechanics as he was not truly flesh, but only a spirit, an apparition, a soul. All of that took flight the moment he heard Zechariah speak. 

“There are also games you can play, like this one.” Zechariah exited his instant messaging application and swiped across the screen once, then pecked once on the icon of Candy Crush and entered the game. “This is a puzzle game. The whole goal is to get all of the objectives met before you run out of moves. And you can get little boosts, but some of that stuff costs actual money.” 

“Pardon me, sir, however…” The three souls and Zechariah jumped in fright, Zechariah nearly out of his pants. Turning about, they came to face Mr. Binx, whilst Mrs. Binx stood just off to his right, holding his arm. “Tis there a plan in place for the situation thou has so unfortunately rendered us participants?” 

“What the hell was that?” Exited Zechariahs lips before he had adequate time to respond in a respectful way. Immediately, he blushed a deep red and his head bowed, his eyes falling to his shoes. “I’m sorry sir.” He mumbled. Thackeray also blushed a bit, but quickly recovered, turning to face his father in a manner he believed proper of a man of his stature, perhaps even of a fully christened man. 

“Father, tis my wish to be honest with thou. So, within all honesty I can muster… tis no plan.” 

Mr. Binx's gaze averted from his son's eyes to the heavens above. “Dear God,” he seemed to pray aloud. “Hath thou rendered thou humble servants unworthy of thy merciful gifts?” 

“Jethro dearest, question not the lord almighty.” His wife scolded. The woman spoke in such a soft manner as to be heard only by her intended audience, her husband. “Tis all up to him. Let the Lord guide us. He hath been good to us thus far, have we any reason to doubt the good Lord now?” 

Thackeray’s father allowed a small smile to part his near perpetually still lips, along with an affectionate glance upon his spouse. “Dearest Rose, thou art true. The Lord hath not forsaken us before now, tis no reason to doubt the good God now.” He paused slightly, swallowing whatever emotion had been welling up within him in that moment, re-centering the gaze he had set upon the graveyard upon his wife. “Dearest, I know not what I would do without thee.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! 
> 
> So, Finals are kicking my but. I didn't do any work on the manuscript but I do have back up material, I have a three week break so I have some time, but also some school work. I will work on this and Where the Supernatural occurs, and I'll get the actual first chapter of my Julie and the Phantoms book up soon. 
> 
> Thanks for feedback! I will update on Christmas! Maybe a double update? (I'll see if I can catch up, so maybe!)


	15. Announcement

Hey everyone! I wanted to give an update. Obviously, I haven't updated in forever, and there's a reason for that. I am currently starting to get really serious about a novel I want to write. I am beginning the first draft and research phase (it's a historical fiction set in an obscure time period that I am having to do a lot of digging to get anything researched). As such I am suspending any and all work on my other manuscripts. This one hit me different, and I feel obligated to write this story because the events in the story were intentionally hidden by the government of Mexico. So until I either give up or get this thing worked out, I will not be updating. I'm so sorry but I need to do this.


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